LOOKING BACK: Called the eXtreme Deep Field, or XDF, the photo was assembled by combining 10 years of NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken of a patch of sky at the center of the original Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The XDF is a small fraction of sky area, but provides a "core sample" of the heavens over 13 billion light-years.
Image: NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch (University of California, Santa Cruz), R. Bouwens (Leiden University), and the HUDF09 Team
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured the farthest-ever view into the universe, a photo that reveals thousands of galaxies billions of light-years away.
The picture, called eXtreme Deep Field, or XDF, combines 10 years of Hubble telescope views of one patch of sky. Only the accumulated light gathered over so many observation sessions can reveal such distant objects, some of which are one ten-billionth the brightness that the human eye can see.
The photo is a sequel to the original "Hubble Ultra Deep Field," a picture the Hubble Space Telescope took in 2003 and 2004 that collected light over many hours to reveal thousands of distant galaxies in what was the deepest view of the universe so far. The XDF goes even farther, peering back 13.2 billion years into the universe's past. The universe is thought to be about 13.7 billion years old.
"The XDF is the deepest image of the sky ever obtained and reveals the faintest and most distant galaxies ever seen," Garth Illingworth of the University of California at Santa Cruz, principal investigator of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2009 program, said in a statement. "XDF allows us to explore further back in time than ever before."
The photo reveals a wide range of galaxies, from spirals that are Milky Way-lookalikes, to hazy reddish blobs that are the result of collisions between galaxies. Some of the very tiny, faint galaxies could be the seeds from which the biggest galaxies around today grew. [Most Amazing Hubble Discoveries]
The XDF is a portrait of a small area of space in the southern constellation Fornax, and spans only a small fraction of the area of the full moon. Within that region, Hubble has revealed 5,500 galaxies, many of which existed shortly after the birth of the universe.
The farthest-away galaxies are 13.2 billion light-years from Earth, meaning their light has taken 13.2 billion years to travel to Hubble's cameras.
"The light from those past events is just arriving at Earth now, and so the XDF is a 'time tunnel into the distant past,'" according to a NASA statement. "The youngest galaxy found in the XDF existed just 450 million years after the universe's birth in the Big Bang."
Hubble was only able to image these objects by amassing light in 2,000 images of the same area, with a total exposure time of 2 million seconds, through two of its cameras: the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3.
Hubble was launched in April 1990, and has been visited by space shuttle crews five times since then for upgrades. The telescope, a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency, is still going strong, and scientists say the scope should be able to function through at least 2018.
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32 Comments
Add CommentIt's kinda funny when NASA releases make statements like:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"The light from those past events is just arriving at Earth now, and so the XDF is a 'time tunnel into the distant past.'"
Of course, light from somewhat earlier events was reaching the Earth thousands of years ago, but those photons weren't collected and no images were produced.
Good job, NASA!
Some of the very tiny, faint galaxies could be the seeds from which the biggest galaxies around today grew." - then we can assume that the tiny blobs are full grown galaxies themselves now. I guess they include this logic in how they calculate the population of the universe.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs Science ready to draw some cosmic conclusions from this new "knowledge"? Do Time and Space have any relevance to our existence or the human future? Does Deus Sive Natura have any meaning in the light of these discoveries? Or are the Hubble and its cameras just a scientific Slinky? Where's the beef, where's the consilience? Signed, Curious
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'd say that the days of contending that the existence of God can't be proven scientifically may be waning.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEverything is seen in a tunnel from the past. Even what you are looking at on your computer is from a few nanoseconds in the past. Under the laws of physics there is no way to detect what is happening in the present anywhere. Not from across the room or across the universe and that is the reason we don't know and can't know, what the universe is doing Now. All we can know or detect is what it was doing in the past, when those photons left their stars.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGood point jtdwyer, the light emitted by these distant objects that we are recording now are indeed just now reaching earth. Of course it's also implied that the light emitted a few thousand years earlier reached earth a few thousand years ago.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think you are right jtdwyer. Have astronomers any full proof method to ensure that light which is being received in telescopes is the light approaching earth Ist time. May be the light which astronomers are detecting in their telescopes now had approached earth FIRST TIME million and billion of years ago. If this turns to be correct, age of such galaxies could go further backwards in time by a few more million and billion of years. This may result in age of galaxies to even exceed 13.72 billion years which astronomers will not be willing to agree since 13.72 billion years since Big Bang is a sacrosanct figure.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFurther what is meant by age of galaxy? Formation of galaxy is not a one time phenomenon . It is a continuous evolving phenomenon in progress for million and billion of years. MW galaxy, which contains some globular stars as old as 13.2 billion years, is still in the evolution stage. There is all the likelihood that light which is being received in telescope now might have been emitted by galaxies during later stages of evolution million and billion of years after initial stages of evolution. This will push back the age of galaxies further by few million and billion of years.
Net result of above two effects may take age of galaxies further to 13.72 billion years. Under this scenario, scientific theories regarding age of universe at 13.72 billion years and BB shall come under cloud
What??
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis image presents a problem for me; because of the distance, I imagine it presents a small cone of space in a smaller universe- at that time. Should not the galaxies appear also much smaller and closer together? Could the volume of the universe at that time be measured and compared with present day estimates? My question probably means a lack of knowlege in this; nonetheless I would appreciate some clarification. Thanks
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisjtdryer said "...light from somewhat earlier events was reaching the Earth thousands of years ago..." Well, not exactly. Light from earlier events, such as the first stars turning on, won't reach Earth for maybe hundreds of thousand of years yet. The light from a hundred years later then the furthest galaxies seen in the XDF reached Earth a hundred years ago. The speed of light hasn't changed just because the universe is getting older.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisis this the past or our future? I believe the ? should be.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisstrange. the term vinodkumarsehgal at first look doesn't appear to be an anagram for romney.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisgokselm in reply to na73x
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Light from earlier events, such as the first stars turning on, won't reach Earth for maybe hundreds of thousand of years yet." This is not correct, your chronology is wrong.
The HUB IS LOOKING AT THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE WHICH IS 13.7 BILLION L yrs AWAY... SO THE LIGHT WE ARE SEEING ONLY JUST REACHED US... IF WE WERE THERE AT THE EDGE 'NOW' THERE MAY NOT BE ANYTHING THERE. WHAT WE SEE FROM HERE ON EARTH HAPPENED 189,OOO X 189,000 X 13.7B yrs AGO... THE LIGHT JUST GOT HERE BECAUSE HUB ( our tech) can detect it... the galaxies are much more further apart from each other in our time. Or I could be wrong... I LOVE THIS STUFF... Lets talk time travel
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEmission of light from stars in any galaxy is not a one time phenomenon. Once a galaxy starts forming by the gravitational stabilization of stars, light from that galaxy shall start emitting and this emission shall continue for million and billion of years. The light which astronomers are getting in their telescope today might have made its first landing on earth million and billion of years ago and since than it is being emitted toward earth. Likelihood of landing of light from those remote galaxies towards direction of earth can not be ruled out even before the formation of earth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf a person detects light from Sun today, this does not implies that light from Sun has been emitted today only. Sun has been emitting light towards the direction of earth since past about 4.6 billion years
But HUB has not remained on focus on all galaxies all the time in the past
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFor light to have reached Earth more than once requires a closed loop space. The current consensus is that space is mainly flat. So Astronomers are certain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this(BTW, the phrase is "Fool Proof" not "Full Proof". I'll refrain from following with some remark about fools.)
ed
That's why I used the modifier "somewhat" to refer to earlier events, as in 'events 1,000 years earlier'. Light from the galaxies imaged in the XDF was reaching the Earth 1,000 years ago. since they would have been slightly nearer to the Earth at the time that light would have been emitted. The light reaching Earth 1,000 years ago from these same galaxies would not have had to traverse quite as great a distance as the light we detect 'today'. Actually, of course, most of these sparse photons might be absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, not making it to the surface - it's good to have telescopes in orbit!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat brings up the point of what is actually reaching (near) the Earth. If the Hubble's mirror was twice as large and/or had been exposed to the XDF region for twice as long, who knows what might be detectable today? Perhaps could see the first stars now, if only we were trying a little harder...
@vinodkumarsehgal
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisyou wrote: "Emission of light from stars in any galaxy is not a one time phenomenon. ... The light which astronomers are getting in their telescope today might have made its first landing on earth million and billion of years ago and since than it is being emitted toward earth."
Light is not a continuous phenomenon. The light (photons) emitted billions of years ago are not connected to the photons emitted last year. You keep phrasing your descriptions as if they are continuous. These are separate events.
ed
1) 13.2 billion light years = 13.2x^9 x 9.4605 x 10^17 cm = 1.248786x10^28 cm.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI calculate the maximum radius of the universe as 2 Pi^2 x Avo. No. x R = 2.1669 x 10^28 cm. (Reference: Complete Unified Theory, page – 424, 1998), Here, R = ratio of atom and electron = 1822.8885, Avogadro number = 6.0221367x10^23, Pi = 3.141592654. These are number only. All together, 2.1669 x 10^28 number, if we this number consider as cm and then we get radius of the universe.
Now, (root 3) x 1.248786x10^28 cm = 2.1629608x10^28 cm, brings the radius of the universe or 2.1629608x10^28 cm divided by root 3, then we get, 1.251060298x10^28 cm. These two distance almost same.
This means, the distances of stars, planets, galaxies etc depends on the Pi, Avo. No. & R. Where, R is the ratio of mass of the atom and electron, then Avo. No. of R thus matter is responsible to create the distances. No planet, star was takes own place hazardlessly.
2) Within that region, Hubble has revealed 5,500 galaxies, thus all galaxies are situated within this radius (2.1669 x 10^28 cm).
3) "The youngest galaxy found in the XDF existed just 450 million years after the universe's birth in the Big Bang."
I calculate and the life time of a photon as 2x10^100 years (Reference: Complete Unified Theory, page – 424, 1998), thus means that after completing this age, there was no meaning of the universe. Because, as per this record “The universe is thought to be about 13.7 billion years old”. So, no need to think about the END of the UNIVERSE.
Nirmalendu Das.
Email: nirmalgopa@gmail.com
Dated: 28-09-2012.
The advancement in physics leaves no space for atheism. Albert Einstein general theory of relativity alone is sufficient to prove the existence of God when one finds that the theory is certified in 7th century A.D.by verse no 104 chapter 21 in the Holy Quran. The verse reveals," Space time wraps on itself like a scroll rolled up books. As we begain the first creation, we shall repeat it. It is a promise binding up on Us. Truly, We shall do it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this(The nearest translation of the Arabic words of God).
The question is Who else other than God could have known the wrapping and unwrapping of Space-Time over 1400 years before the theory was discovered! There are many such miracles which are made known to us through the advancement in science. A few of them are explained in my book: The Design of The Universe Defeats Atheism: This is my addition to point no. 4 above.
@vinodkumarsehgal: "If a person detects light from Sun today, this does not implies that light from Sun has been emitted today only." Your statement is not true: the light (i.e. a certain number of photons) emitted from Sun "today" is detected "today" (500 seconds later) on Earth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@nirmalgopa: Your calculations are irrelevant; what's your point?
NASA is doing a great job.Its work enables us to understand religion and the existence of God.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou are right in your perspective but not understood the context in which I had raised this issue. If a person sees the light today from Sun for the Ist time in his life it will not imply that light from Sun has landed at earth for the first time today only. Similarly, when astronomers detect light from any remote galaxy today for the Ist time in their telescopes should not amount to assertion that light from that galaxy has landed at earth Ist time only. It is not feasible for astronomers to focus their telescopes at at all galaxies all the time in the past
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes, you are right in your perspective that emission of light photons is not a continuous phenomenon. However, photons can not be labelled or tagged in order to distinguish between light emitted today or emitted 1000 years ago. If we may switch on a bulb for some time and than switch off, it implies light from that bulb shall be observed in detector for that duration only for which switch was on. However, in case of galaxies no switching mechanism is available. A galaxy comprises of billion and trillion of stars. From some or other stars, light shall always remain in continuous emission. It is in this context, I had used the word continuously. Therefore, we are not sure if the source galaxy, whose light was emitted at some moment in past and is being detected in telescope today at earth, had never emitted light prior to that moment and landed at earth before detection as on today. After all, the astronomer's telescope was not always focused on that galaxy only( whose light is being detected today) all the time in the past.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan you suggest the mechanism by which to ensure that light from the source from which light is being detected today had never landed at earth in the past?
My reference was not to the light comprising of SAME photons. Every moment new photons shall be emitted by same source galaxy which will reach earth at different moments.However, since photons can not be labeled to distinguish between photons landing at earth at different moments, for all practical purpose we can say that same light ( though having different photons every time) but from same source has landed at earth at different time. Mere detection in telescope today of light from a remote source galaxy does not lead to inference that in past light from same source had never landed at earth. After all, telescope of astronomers was not focused at that galaxy only for all the time in the past. I hope now you get my point
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe advancement in physics leaves no space for atheism. Albert Einstein general theory of relativity alone is sufficient to prove the existence of God when one finds that the theory is certified in 7th century A.D.by verse no 104 chapter 21 in the Holy Quran. The verse reveals," Space time wraps on itself like a scroll rolled up books. As we begain the first creation, we shall repeat it. It is a promise binding up on Us. Truly, We shall do it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this(The nearest translation of the Arabic words of God).
The question is Who else other than God could have known the wrapping and unwrapping of Space-Time over 1400 years before the theory was discovered! There are many such miracles which are made known to us through the advancement in science. A few of them are explained in my book: The Design of The Universe Defeats Atheism: This is my addition to point no. 4 above.
May be distant galaxies are the past reflection of present galaxies where we are
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@ agkhan39 : The beginning of the 104th aya (verse) in 21st sura (chapter) is translated as "(remember) the Day when We shall roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books, as We began the first creation, We shall repeat it,... " by Hilali & Khan(http://tanzil.net/#trans/en.hilali/21:104); this is different than "space-time" concept.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is a difference between the observable universe (the distance that light can travel since the universe first created objects that emit light), and the size of the actual universe, which could be much larger.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light, then it would be larger than the 13.n billion light years volume we could potentially observe.
So things could have been packed closer and the universe would have been smaller back then, but that volume could still have been larger than the 'observable' volume we can see today.
"Can you suggest the mechanism by which to ensure that light from the source from which light is being detected today had never landed at earth in the past?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy would you want to?
Posted elsewhere, but no reply:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf the space between two specific galaxies is expanding, how does that affect the speed of the photons traveling from one to the other? Are they stretched out by the expansion, do they slow down so as not to exceed the speed of light, or do they speed up due to the expansion?
How will each one of the above affect the red shift as observed from each galaxy? If the red shift were increased, would it appear that the galaxies are moving away from each other faster than they really are? And, if so, would there be an exponential effect, making it appear that expansion is accelerating?
Does anyone know the answers to these questions?