The Hubble Space Telescope made a remarkable discovery on a Jupiter-sized planet from another solar system that finally gives a glimpse of hope that life is possible outside of our own planet.

The NASA’s telescope has discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the Jupiter-sized planet, called HD 189733b.

HD 189733b, a massive celestial body was discovered in 2005. The gaseous behemoth orbits a Sun-like star situated at 63 light-years away from us and according to spectrograph analysis operated using NASA’s Spitzer telescope it is ravaged by winds that reach speeds of up to 9,600 kilometers per hour.
Moreover, since the distance that separates the planet from its parenting star is only 5,000 kilometers (3.000 miles) – 30 times closer than the Earth is to Sun- the surface temperature reaches a dazzling 1000 degrees Kelvin (1300 degrees Fahrenheit).

Previous observations of HD 189733b by Hubble and the Spitzer Space Telescope found water vapor. Earlier this year, Hubble found methane in the planet's atmosphere.

The identification of carbon dioxide was made by Mark Swain, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif..

He used Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer to study infrared light emitted from HD 189733b. Gases in the planet's atmosphere absorb certain wavelengths of light from the planet's hot glowing interior. Swain identified carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. The molecules leave a unique spectral fingerprint on the radiation from the planet that reaches Earth. This is the first time a near-infrared emission spectrum has been obtained for an exoplanet.

Until now, astronomers have found that the majority of the 227 exo-planets (whose actual existence is deduced from their influence on nearby stars or through their effects on the light traveling towards Earth, rather than direct observations) are inhospitable for life, resembling more to gaseous giants like Jupiter.