Such disturbance has traditionally been ascribed to the combined gravitational effect of all the stars of the earth's home galaxy, the Milky Way.

ECONOMIST: X marks the spot

Marcy and a team that includes Paul Butler of the Anglo-Australian Observatory are using the telescope to scan more than 400 stars for the characteristic "wobble" caused by the gravitational effect of planets on stars.

CNN: Astronomers spy new neighbors outside solar system

It could also cast light on the mystery of dark matter, a substance that pervades the universe in vastly larger quantities than familiar, visible matter, but whose existence can be inferred only by watching its gravitational effect on visible matter.

ECONOMIST: Particle accelerators

Perhaps its greatest moment came in 1979 when it was the first telescope to observe a gravitational lens, an effect where a "massive" object bends electromagnetic radiation such as light around it.

BBC: Aye to the telescope

The gravitational field around Mars would have a slingshot effect on a spacecraft, hurling it back toward earth with additional velocity.

WSJ: First Space Tourist to Outline Trip to Mars

The images from the Hubble, which has a clear view of the cosmos from its orbit above the Earth's turbulent atmosphere, will enable astronomers to gain a better understanding of black holes and the effect they have on material captured in their gravitational trap.

BBC: Hubble spies black hole gobbling galaxy

This corresponds to a place where the gravitational pulls of Mars and Jupiter have conspired to change the orbits of any asteroids much faster than the Yarkovsky effect could manage alone.

ECONOMIST: Asteroid impacts