GOODS South

GOODS South

This Hubble Space Telescope view reveals thousands of galaxies stretching back into time across billions of light-years of space. The image covers a portion of a large galaxy census called the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS).

Besides the myriad of galaxies visible in this image, only 10 percent of the total number of galaxies in the universe are observable for the current generation of telescopes, according to a new analysis of the GOODS and other Hubble deep-field surveys. The study's researchers concluded that at least 10 times more galaxies exist in the observable universe than previously thought.

According to the research, about 90 percent of galaxies in the observable universe are too faint and too far away to be seen with present-day telescopes.

Credits

NASA, ESA, the GOODS Team, and M. Giavalisco (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)

About The Object
Object Name Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-South, GOODS South
Object Description Survey
R.A. Position 03h 32m 28.0s
Dec. Position -27° 48' 30"
Constellation Fornax
About The Data
Data Description These GOODS datasets are from the Hubble proposals: and - P.I.: M. Giavalisco (University of Massachusetts, Amherst); - P.I.: S. Perlmutter (University of California, Berkeley); and , , and - P.I.: A. Riess (STScI).
Instrument HST>ACS/WFC
Exposure Dates July 2002 - September 2005 (The exposure time for all filters in all the tiles making up the mosaic totals 10.5 hours.)
Filters F435W (B), F606 (V), F775W (i), and F850LP (z)
About The Image
Color Info This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the ACS/WFC instrument. Four filters were used to sample different wavelength bands. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. Blue: F435W (B) Green: F606 (V) Red: F775W (i) + F850LP (z)
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
  • Proposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
  • Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
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.

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