Hubble’s colourful view of the Universe
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Videos
Astronomers using the Hubble Space
Telescope have captured the most comprehensive picture ever assembled of
the evolving Universe — and one of the most colourful. The study is
called the Ultraviolet Coverage of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UVUDF)
project.
Prior to this survey, astronomers were in a curious position. They
knew a lot about star formation occurring in nearby galaxies thanks to
UV telescope facilities such as NASA's Galex observatory,
which operated from 2003 to 2013. And, thanks to Hubble's near-infrared
and visible capability, they had also studied star birth in the most
distant galaxies. We see these distant galaxies in their most primitive
stages due to the vast amount of time it takes their light to reach us.
However, between 5 and 10 billion light-years away from us —
corresponding to a time period when most of the stars in the Universe
were born — there was a lack of the data needed to fully understand star
formation. The hottest, most massive and youngest stars, which emit
light in the ultraviolet, were often neglected as subjects of direct
observation, leaving a significant gap in our knowledge of the cosmic
timeline.
The addition of ultraviolet data to the Hubble Ultra Deep Field using
Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 gives astronomers access to direct
observations of regions of unobscured star formation and may help us to
fully understand how stars formed. By observing at these wavelengths,
researchers get a direct look at which galaxies are forming stars and,
just as importantly, where the stars are forming. This enables
astronomers to understand how galaxies like the Milky Way grew in size
from small collections of very hot stars to the massive structures they
are today.
The patch of sky in this image has been previously studied by
astronomers in a series of visible and near-infrared exposures taken
from 2004 to 2009: the Hubble Ultra Deep Field.
Now, with the addition of ultraviolet light, they have combined the
full range of colours available to Hubble, stretching all the way from
ultraviolet to near-infrared light. The resulting image, made from 841
orbits of telescope viewing time, contains approximately 10 000
galaxies, extending back to within a few hundred million years of the
Big Bang.
Since the Earth's atmosphere filters most ultraviolet light, this
work can only be accomplished with a space-based telescope like Hubble.
Ultraviolet surveys like this are incredibly important in planning for
the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
as Hubble is the only telescope currently able to obtain the
ultraviolet data that researchers will need to combine with infrared
data from JWST.
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2014 image is a composite of separate exposures taken from 2003 to 2012 with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3.
More information
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Teplitz and M. Rafelski (IPAC/Caltech), A. Koekemoer (STScI), R. Windhorst (Arizona State University), and Z. Levay (STScI)
Notes for editors
The team responsible for this data consists of H. Teplitz and M.
Rafelski (IPAC/Caltech), P. Kurczynski (Rutgers University), N. Bond
(Goddard Space Flight Center), E. Soto (Catholic University), N. Grogin
and A. Koekemoer (STScI), H. Atek (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de
Lausanne, Switzerland), T. Brown and D. Coe (STScI), J. Colbert and Y.
Dai (IPAC/Caltech), H. Ferguson (STScI), S. Finkelstein (University of
Texas, Austin), J. Gardner (Catholic University), E. Gawiser (Rutgers
University), M. Giavalisco (University of Massachusetts, Amherst), C.
Gronwall (Penn State University), D. Hanish (IPAC/Caltech), K.-S. Lee
(Perdue University), Z. Levay (STScI), D. De Mello (Catholic
University), S. Ravindranath and R. Ryan (STScI), B. Siana (University
of California, Riverside), C. Scarlata (University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis), E. Voyer (CNRS, Marseille), and R. Windhorst (Arizona
State University).
Links
Contacts
Georgia BladonESA/Hubble, Public Information Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Cell: +44 7816291261
Email: gbladon@partner.eso.org
Source: ESA/Hubble - Space Telescope
