This new image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) 2012 campaign reveals a previously unseen population of seven faraway galaxies, which are observed as they appeared in a period 350 million to 600 million years after the big bang.
The galaxy census is the most robust sample of galaxies ever found at these early epochs. The galaxies were seen in near-infrared light using Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3.
The colored squares in the main image outline the locations of the galaxies. Enlarged views of each galaxy are shown in the black-and-white images. The red lines mark each galaxy's location. The "redshift" of each galaxy is indicated below each box, denoted by the symbol "z." Redshift measures how much a galaxy's ultraviolet and visible light has been stretched to infrared wavelengths by the universe's expansion. The larger the redshift, the more distant the galaxy, and therefore the farther astronomers are seeing back in time.
One of the seven galaxies may be a distance breaker, observed at a redshift of 11.9. The galaxy is seen as it appeared 380 million years after the big bang, when the universe was less than 3 percent of its present age.
The HUDF 2012 observations were taken in August and September 2012.
The members of the UDF 2012 team are R. Ellis (California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.), B. Robertson (University of Arizona, Tucson), R. McLure and J. Dunlop (University of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom), D. Stark (University of Arizona, Tucson), M. Ouchi (University of Tokyo, Japan), A. Koekemoer (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.), M Cirasuolo (University of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom), S. Charlot (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Garching, Germany), V. Wild (University of St. Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom), and S. Furlanetto (University of California, Los Angeles).
Credits
NASA, ESA, R. Ellis (Caltech), and the UDF 2012 Team| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Hubble Ultra Deep Field, HUDF |
| Object Description | Infrared Survey and distant galaxies |
| R.A. Position | 03h 32m 38.5s |
| Dec. Position | -27° 47' 0.0" |
| Constellation | Fornax |
| Distance | The image is 2.25 arcminutes wide. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The image was created from Hubble data from the following proposals: : G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz); , , : S. Faber (University of California, Santa Cruz) and H. Ferguson (STScI); : A. Riess (STScI/JHU); and : R. Ellis (Caltech). The UDF 2012 team members include: R. Ellis (Caltech), R. McLure and J. Dunlop (University of Edinburgh, Institute for Astronomy, Edinburgh), B. Robertson (University of Arizona), Y. Ono (University of Tokyo), M. Schenker (Caltech), A. Koekemoer (STScI), R. Bowler (University of Edinburgh, Institute for Astronomy, Edinburgh), M. Ouchi (University of Tokyo), A. Rogers and E. Curtis-Lake (University of Edinburgh, Institute for Astronomy, Edinburgh), E. Schneider (University of Arizona), S. Charlot (Paris Institute of Astrophysics), D. Stark (University of Arizona), S. Furlanetto (UCLA), and M. Cirasuolo (University of Edinburgh, Institute for Astronomy, Edinburgh). |
| Instrument | HST>WFC3/IR |
| Exposure Dates | August 2009 to September 2012 |
| Filters | F105W (Y), F125W (J), F140W (JH), and F160W (H) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3/IR instruments. Several filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image as follows: Blue: F105W (Y) Green: F125W (J) Red: F140W (JH) + F160W (H) |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
