Hubble's Most Penetrating View Yet of the Early Universe

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have snapped the deepest picture of space yet. The new image, which depicts the so-called Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), captures about 10,000 galaxies, many of which formed just a few hundred million years after the big bang. The image should help scientists determine how the first stars reheated the cold, dark, expanse as the universe emerged from its dark ages.

And they want to scrub of Hubble

NASA recently canceled a scheduled shuttle flight to install new equipment on Hubble and without maintenance, the telescope will fail in the next few years. With Hubble's fate looking bleak, astronomers will have to wait some time before getting their next detailed glimpse into the early universe: the James Webb Space telescope, which will study galaxy formation, won't launch until 2011.

If this continues, won't we hit the spot when Big Bang happened? Not an astronomy major here.

Hold a grain of sand at arms length, that is the area of space in the sky that this photo represents.

I think I heard they wanted to scrap Hubble, but replace it with a different telescope instead of fixing it every couple of years, because of the cost of so many trips into orbit to mess with it. I don't know how they could guarantee a different telescope wouldn't need adjustments every few years too, though.

I think that seeing the Big Bang through a telescope is about as likely as someone remembering their own birth. It's probably not going to happen.

The VLT (very large telescope) in the heart of the Chilean Atacama Desert is the largest on earth. The images from this telescope are clearer than the Hubble space telescope. It has two large and separate telescopes, the images are combined by computers to create the clearest photos of the universe yet. They have stated that they will be using the Hubble, as a spotting telescope.

If this continues, won't we hit the spot when Big Bang happened? Not an astronomy major here.

There is a point in the evolution of the universe (300,000 yrs after big bang, IIRC) when the universe ceased to be opaque and became transparent to visible light (first formation of atoms - no longer particle "soup") can't very well see back any further than that...

my god its full of stars

Originally posted by watcheroftheskies
my god its full of stars

HAL is the best, and is probably one of the greatest "villains" in cinema. He's one of the greatest villains because he doesn't realize what he's doing is wrong -- he's just trying to do the best job he can, and doesn't understand the consequences of his actions.

do you think hal was unduly influenced by the monolith?
he must have been

Ya, that's an amazing picture...when you think about how many more galaxies there are out there, and stars and planets, you realize how insignificant our little world is...

If we can look that deep into space, and with that clarity and precision, why haven't we looked at any solar systems in near galaxies? Or even solar systems in OUR galaxy? Seems like good ol' hubble could get some awesome shots of other planets... or is there some 'treaty' that says we can't spy on our neighbor galaxies and planets? grr... all the right equipment, not all the right purposes. Jeez, you'd think that if we could scan for intelligent life visually, maybe THEY would have the answers to alot of our questions? I mean, c'mon... I come to these boards partly because I don't want to redo work that has already been done.

If we can look that deep into space, and with that clarity and precision, why haven't we looked at any solar systems in near galaxies? Or even solar systems in OUR galaxy?

I suppose it is because there is too much in our way to look at our neighboring solar systems or the star is too bright to let us see the planets.