HUBBLE'S DEEPEST VIEW EVER OF THE UNIVERSE UNVEILS EARLIEST GALAXIES (STScI-PR04-07)

EMBARGOED UNTIL: 9:30 am (EST) March 9, 2004

CONTACT:
Don Savage
NASA Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202-358-1547; E-mail: )

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-4514; E-mail: )

Lars Lindberg Christensen
Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre
(Phone: 011-49-89-320-06-306; Cell: 011-49-173-38-72-621;
E-mail: )

Lori Stiles
University of Arizona News Service, Tucson
(Phone: 520-626-4402; E-mail: )

PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR04-07


HUBBLE'S DEEPEST VIEW EVER OF THE UNIVERSE UNVEILS EARLIEST GALAXIES

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.

This historic new view is actually two separate images taken by
Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the Near Infrared
Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer (NICMOS). Both images reveal
galaxies that are too faint to be seen by ground-based telescopes,
or even in Hubble's previous faraway looks, called the Hubble Deep
Fields (HDFs), taken in 1995 and 1998.

The HUDF observations began Sept. 24, 2003 and continued through Jan.
16, 2004.

To see and read more, please visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2004/07
http://www.spacetelescope.org/

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA),
for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of
international cooperation between NASA and the European Space
Agency (ESA).

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"INBOX ASTRONOMY: NEWS ALERT" wrote in message
...
EMBARGOED UNTIL: 9:30 am (EST) March 9, 2004

CONTACT:
Don Savage
NASA Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202-358-1547; E-mail: )

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-4514; E-mail: )

Lars Lindberg Christensen
Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre
(Phone: 011-49-89-320-06-306; Cell: 011-49-173-38-72-621;
E-mail: )

Lori Stiles
University of Arizona News Service, Tucson
(Phone: 520-626-4402; E-mail: )

PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR04-07


HUBBLE'S DEEPEST VIEW EVER OF THE UNIVERSE UNVEILS EARLIEST GALAXIES

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.
snip

Does anyone have any thoughts on the image yet? As always it melts my brain
to look at so much in one FOV. One thing, I found interesting was not so
much the diversity of objects, but that there seem so be some very similar.
The "golden" orbs for one. There seems to be 5 or 6 that are nearly
identical. The spiral galaxy near the bottom right edge is amazing as well.

BV.

"BenignVanilla" wrote in message ...
"INBOX ASTRONOMY: NEWS ALERT" wrote in message
...
EMBARGOED UNTIL: 9:30 am (EST) March 9, 2004

CONTACT:
Don Savage
NASA Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202-358-1547; E-mail: )

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-4514; E-mail: )

Lars Lindberg Christensen
Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre
(Phone: 011-49-89-320-06-306; Cell: 011-49-173-38-72-621;
E-mail: )

Lori Stiles
University of Arizona News Service, Tucson
(Phone: 520-626-4402; E-mail: )

PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR04-07


HUBBLE'S DEEPEST VIEW EVER OF THE UNIVERSE UNVEILS EARLIEST GALAXIES

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.
snip

Does anyone have any thoughts on the image yet? As always it melts my brain
to look at so much in one FOV. One thing, I found interesting was not so
much the diversity of objects, but that there seem so be some very similar.
The "golden" orbs for one. There seems to be 5 or 6 that are nearly
identical. The spiral galaxy near the bottom right edge is amazing as well.

BV.

BV, I read somewhere that the area covered by this image, in the sky,
is the equivalent of looking through a soda straw 8' long. If true,
that is amazing; considering all that is there in the photo. DR

"Darian Rachal" wrote in message
snip
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.
snip

Does anyone have any thoughts on the image yet? As always it melts my
brain
to look at so much in one FOV. One thing, I found interesting was not so
much the diversity of objects, but that there seem so be some very
similar.
The "golden" orbs for one. There seems to be 5 or 6 that are nearly
identical. The spiral galaxy near the bottom right edge is amazing as
well.

BV.

BV, I read somewhere that the area covered by this image, in the sky,
is the equivalent of looking through a soda straw 8' long. If true,
that is amazing; considering all that is there in the photo. DR

For me, even if this image covered 80 degrees of the sky, I would be amazed.
I mean, to think we are just this little speck in the outer arm of our
galaxy, and yet when we look up there just so many more arms out there. So
many more specks could be possible. I guess it's that images like this give
me a feel for how small we are, and how big our universe is. And to think,
this is only the part we can see...what's beyond...oh my.

BV.

"BenignVanilla" wrote in message
Does anyone have any thoughts on the image yet? ...

Soooo humbling! The old ones are so far in the past, they've been and
gone already. The new ones - somewhat older than me! How many
civilisations? How many intelligent beings? How many whatever?

Bringing it back to human scale - what's the chances of me being able
to image this using my amateur equipment 20 years from now? Don't
laugh! Can't today's amateurs rival Palomar (and film) of 20 years ago
using 12" scopes and CCD's?

Beats

"justbeats" wrote in message
m...

Bringing it back to human scale - what's the chances of me being able
to image this using my amateur equipment 20 years from now? Don't
laugh! Can't today's amateurs rival Palomar (and film) of 20 years ago
using 12" scopes and CCD's?

Q: Can any ground-based telescopes out-do HST's Hubble Deep Field?

A: In theory, the enormous collecting power of today's observatories
should allow them to penetrate to magnitude +30 and beyond, and do so
faster than Hubble. However, light pollution notwithstanding, molecules in
the Earth's atmosphere produce a natural skyglow. This reduces the
signal-to-noise ratio of ground-based deep field images. But their ability
to capture faint spectra of high redshift galaxies makes them complementary
to HST (removing skyglow from spectroscopic data is easier than with images).

Q: Can any ground-based telescopes out-do HST's Infrared observations?

A: Although tremendous progress has been made in ground-based IR
observations, they can only observe a small number of Infrared bands
that are not completely absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, and also have
to contend with the Earth's intense IR skyglow. HST's NICMOS can
achieve a H-band magnitude of +26, about 2 magnitudes deeper than is
realistically possible with Keck or Subaru.

"Tom" . wrote in message ...

Q: Can any ground-based telescopes out-do HST's Hubble Deep Field?

Some of the galaxies imaged in HUDF are so dim that even KECK cannot
get adequate spectra of them to determine either absolute magnitude or
red shift!

Q: Can any ground-based telescopes out-do HST's Infrared observations?

A: Although tremendous progress has been made in ground-based IR
observations, they can only observe a small number of Infrared bands
that are not completely absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, and also have
to contend with the Earth's intense IR skyglow. HST's NICMOS can
achieve a H-band magnitude of +26, about 2 magnitudes deeper than is
realistically possible with Keck or Subaru.

A2: a modern NICIMOS-II could even pull another magnitude out of
the IR.

HUBBLE'S DEEPEST VIEW EVER OF THE UNIVERSE UNVEILS EARLIEST GALAXIES


Yet again, Hubble produces incredible images and yet it is to be scrapped.

Just unbelievable!

Henry wrote:

Yet again, Hubble produces incredible images and yet it is to be scrapped.

Just unbelievable!

Call you local congress person TODAY and tell them exactly that. There
is a congressional hearing on NASA safety issues and HST in two days
time (Thursday, if I'm not misinformed) and a bill is being prepared
which will likely also be signed by some Republicans. So call them today
because these personal touches do make an impression!

Knud.

"Knud" wrote in message
...
Henry wrote:

Yet again, Hubble produces incredible images and yet it is to be
scrapped.

Just unbelievable!

Call you local congress person TODAY and tell them exactly that.

I can't I'm not American. I'm in Europe.