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Individual Galaxy Details

Individual Galaxy Details
Astronomers analyzing two of the deepest views of the cosmos made with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered a gold mine of galaxies, more than 500 that existed less than a billion years after the Big Bang. These galaxies thrived when the cosmos was less than 7 percent of its present age of 13.7 billion years. This sample, of which 28 are seen here, represents the most comprehensive compilation of galaxies in the early universe. The galaxies appear red because of their tremendous distance from Earth. The blue light from their young stars took nearly 13 billion years to arrive at Earth. During the journey, the blue light was shifted to red light due to the expansion of space.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    03h 32m 39.99s
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -27° 48' 0.0"
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Fornax

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data 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 science team for this release is: R. Bouwens and G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz), J. Blakeslee (Washington State University), and M. Franx (Leiden Observatory). This image was created from HST data from the following proposal: 9978: HUDF Team (STScI). The science teams are: • A.J. Bunker (Univ.of Exeter U.K./ Inst. of Astrophysics, Univ. of Cambridge, U.K.), E.R. Stanway (Inst. of Astrophysics, Univ. of Cambridge, U.K.), R.S. Ellis (California Inst. of Tech.), and R.G. McMahon (Inst. of Astrophysics, Univ. of Cambridge, U.K.) • H. Yan (Spitzer Science Center, California Inst. of Tech.) and R.A. Windhorst (Arizona State Univ.) • M. Stiavelli, S.M. Fall, and N. Panagia (STScI) • R.J. Bouwens and G.D. Illingworth (Univ. of California, Santa Cruz), R.I. Thompson (Steward Obs./Univ. of Arizona), J.P. Blakeslee (Johns Hopkins Univ.), M.E. Dickinson (National Optical Astronomy Obs.), T.J. Broadhurst (The Hebrew Univ., Israel), D.J. Eisenstein and X. Fan (Steward Obs./Univ. of Arizona), M. Franx (Leiden Observatory, Netherlands), G. Meurer (Johns Hopkins Univ.), and P. van Dokkum (Yale Univ.) • S. Malhotra, J.E. Rhoads, N. Pirzkal and C. Xu (Space Telescope Science Inst.)
  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    HST>ACS/WFC
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    September 24, 2003 - January 16, 2004, Exposure Time: 11.3 days
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F435W (B), F606W (V), F775W (i), F850LP (z)
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    HUDF Galaxies
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Distant Galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
  • Release Date
    September 21, 2006
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Finds Hundreds of Young Galaxies in Early Universe
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, R. Bouwens and G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz)

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Individual Galaxy Details
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

Blue: F435W (B) Green: F606W (V) + F775W (i) Red: F850LP (z)

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Details

Last Updated
Aug 17, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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