Last week
NASA released an amazing image of the universe from the Hubble Space Telescope that took 9 years to create. It is a beautiful composite of of more than 10,000 colorful galaxies stretching back to the beginning of the universe. Here is the official explanation from NASA:
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have assembled a
comprehensive picture of the evolving universe – among the most colorful
deep space images ever captured by the 24-year-old telescope.
Researchers say the image, in new study called the Ultraviolet
Coverage of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, provides the missing link in
star formation. The Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2014 image is a composite of
separate exposures taken in 2003 to 2012 with Hubble's Advanced Camera
for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3.
Astronomers previously studied the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) in
visible and near-infrared light in a series of images captured from 2003
to 2009. The HUDF shows a small section of space in the
southern-hemisphere constellation Fornax. Now, using ultraviolet light,
astronomers have combined the full range of colors available to Hubble,
stretching all the way from ultraviolet to near-infrared light. The
resulting image -- made from 841 orbits of telescope viewing time --
contains approximately 10,000 galaxies, extending back in time to within
a few hundred million years of the big bang.
Image Credit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2014/27