What did the first galaxies look like?
| Publisher's Comment |
|
A million second exposure. Over 10000 Galaxies imaged with Hubble's newest high resolution cameras. Peer in awe at the begninning of time, about 14 Billion years ago. Our Universe at it's beginning. |
To help answer this question, the Hubble Space Telescope has just finished taking the
Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), the deepest image of the universe ever taken in
visible light. Pictured above, the
HUDF shows a sampling of the
oldest galaxies ever seen, galaxies that formed just after the
dark ages, 13 billion years ago, when the universe was only 5 percent of its present age. The
Hubble Space Telescope's
NICMOS and new
ACS cameras took the image. Staring nearly 3 months at the same spot, the
HUDF is four times more sensitive, in some colors, than the original
Hubble Deep Field (HDF). Astronomers the world over will likely study the
HUDF for years to come to better understand how stars and galaxies formed in the early universe. .
Astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute today unveiled the deepest portrait of the visible universe ever achieved by humankind. Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), the million-second-long exposure reveals the first galaxies to emerge from the so-called "dark ages," the time shortly after the big bang when the first stars reheated the cold, dark universe. The new image should offer new insights into what types of objects reheated the universe long ago.
Note: Image above is a crop of the original square format Hubble image in order to produce a panoramic format.
Text: APOD Credit: HST