HST Ultra-Deep Field

This is the Hubble Space Telescope’s 2004 Ultra-Deep Field image of a region of “empty” space in the constellation Fornax, below Orion. Taken with the ACS (Advanced Camera for Surveys, installed by Shuttle astronauts in 2002) and NICMOS (Near Infra-Red Camera and Multiple Object Spectrometer) cameras, this image reveals galaxies that are too faint to be seen by any ground-based telescope. This image sees objects four times fainter than the 1996 and 1998 HST Deep-Field images taken with the WFPC2 (Wide-Field Planetary Camera). These are the faintest, most distant and oldest objects ever observed. Some objects in this image are so heavily red-shifted that we are seeing them as they were a mere 800 to 400 million years after the Big Bang. In all, the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field contains over 10,000 galaxies. This image is arguably THE single most important image in astronomy.

This is a great image to go through with an image magnifier. If you think your computer can handle it – try to download the 60.2 MB full-resolution (6200 x 6200 pixel) JPEG image and pore over THAT beauty. Just look at this amazing photo. Then tell me we’re alone in the universe.

Image (500k JPEG):
http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2004/07/images/a/formats/print.jpg
Press release: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2004/07/
Main Hubble web site: http://hubblesite.org/