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Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2009-2010 and UDFj-39546284
The farthest and one of the very earliest galaxies ever seen in the universe appears as a faint red blob in this ultra-deep-field exposure taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. This is the deepest infrared image taken of the universe. Based on the object's color, astronomers believe it is 13.2 billion light-years away.
The most distant objects in the universe appear extremely red because their light is stretched to longer, redder wavelengths by the expansion of the universe. This object is at an extremely faint magnitude of 29, which is 500 million times fainter that the faintest stars seen by the human eye.
The dim object is a compact galaxy of blue stars that existed 480 million years after the Big Bang, only four percent of the universe's current age. It is tiny and considered a building block of today's giant galaxies. Over one hundred such mini-galaxies would be needed to make up our Milky Way galaxy.
Follow-up spectroscopic observations with the planned James Webb Space Telescope later in this decade will be needed to definitively confirm the object's distance.
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field infrared exposures were taken in 2009 and 2010, and required a total of 111 orbits or 8 days of observing. The new Wide Field Camera 3 has the sharpness and near-infrared light sensitivity that matches the Advanced Camera for Surveys' optical images and allows for such a faint object to be selected from the thousands of other galaxies in the incredibly deep images of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field.
About the Object
- R.A. PositionR.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.03h 32m 38.99s
- Dec. PositionDec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.-27° 47' 29.04"
- ConstellationConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.Fornax
- DimensionsDimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.The HUDF image is roughly 2.2 arcminutes wide.
About the Data
- Data DescriptionData DescriptionProposal: 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.The image was created from Hubble data from proposal 11563: G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz), R. Bouwens (University of California, Santa Cruz, and Leiden University), M. Carollo (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich), M. Franx (Leiden University), I. Labbé (Carnegie Institution of Washington), D. Magee (University of California, Santa Cruz), P. Oesch (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich), M. Stiavelli (STScI), M. Trenti (University of Colorado, Boulder), and P. van Dokkum (Yale University). The science team includes: R. Bouwens (University of California, Santa Cruz, and Leiden University), G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz), I. Labbé (Carnegie Institution of Washington), P. Oesch (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich), M. Trenti (University of Colorado, Boulder), M. Carollo (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich), P. van Dokkum (Yale University), M. Franx (Leiden University), M. Stiavelli (STScI), V. González and D. Magee (University of California, Santa Cruz), and L. Bradley (STScI). - InstrumentInstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.HST>WFC3/IR
- Exposure DatesExposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.August 26, 2009 - September 14, 2010, Exposure Time: 87 hours
- FiltersFiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.F105W (Y), F125W (J), and F160W (H)
- Object NameObject NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.Hubble Ultra Deep Field, HUDF, and UDFj-39546284
- Object DescriptionObject DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.Cosmological Survey and distant galaxy
- Release DateJanuary 26, 2011
- Science ReleaseNASA’s Hubble Finds Most Distant Galaxy Candidate Ever Seen in Universe
- Credit
The image is a composite of separate exposures made by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Three filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges in the near infrared. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F105W (Y) Green: F125W (J) Red: F160W (H)
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
