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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