Skip to content Space See how the Hubble Space Telescope is still revolutionizing astronomy Celebrate Hubble's 35th anniversary with some amazing imagery The Hubble Space Telescope was placed in low Earth orbit in 1990 by astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery. NASA, Smithsonian Institution, Lockheed Corporation By Katherine Kornei 10 seconds ago After 35 years, the Hubble Space Telescope is still churning out hits. In just the last year or so, scientists have used the school bus–sized observatory to confirm the first lone black hole, reveal new space rocks created by a NASA asteroid-impact mission and pinpoint the origin of a particularly intense, mysterious burst of radio waves. These findings are a testament to the fact that there’s still plenty of science for the telescope to do. And there are some observations that simply can’t be done with any other telescope, including Hubble’s younger sibling, the James Webb Space Telescope. Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.