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HUBBLE'S BIG BANG SNAPS

Totally off topic, but with all the troubles in the news today, and particularly the horrible bombing in Spain, which I am sure involves Al-qaida, this story is something more deep than we can ever imagine. Its about Hubble's last shot; watching the universe almost at the moment of inception, slightly over 13Bn years ago.

Question ..... what was happening 14Bn years ago?

Headline news from Sky News - Witness the event

The Hubble telescope has produced the deepest view of the universe ever seen, showing stars and galaxies formed just after the Big Bang.
The snapshot of the universe, called the Ultra Deep Field, captured light that had streaked through space for more than 13bn years.
It shows a chaotic scramble of around 10,000 galaxies smashing into each other and re-forming in bizarre shapes.

Ultra Deep Field shows around 10,000 galaxies

Hubble's images were collected by focusing its instruments at a single point in the southern sky for one million seconds, an exposure that took more than 400 orbits of the space telescope.

The portion of the sky photographed by the Hubble is very small. Astronomers compared the field of view it to looking at the sky through an eight-foot long straw.

Steven Beckwith, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute said: "For the first time we're looking back at stars that are forming out of the depths of the Big Bang.

"We're seeing the youngest stars within a stone's throw of the beginning of the universe."

The Ultra Deep Field may be the Hubble's last major contribution to astronomy.

Nasa has cancelled future plans to service the Hubble - a procedure which requires a manned shuttle mission - in the aftermath of the Columbia accident in 2003.

Last Updated: 11:19 UK, Wednesday March 10, 2004

March 11, 2004 at 10:50 PM in World Affairs | Permalink | TrackBack (6) | Top of page | Blog Home