The venerable Hubble Space Telescope just continues to amaze nearly everyone, from the most amateur of astronomers to highly-regarded astrophysicists, and certainly the general public as the following image demonstrates.
Taken from just a fraction of space far smaller than the diameter of a full moon, (which you should ponder next time you look into the night sky,) the eXtreme Deep Field or XDF contains about 5500 galaxies and is one of the deepest images ever taken of the universe. Check out the following video below for a visual representation of the XDF.
One of the most astounding facts is that these images aren’t new– they were taken between 2003 and 2004, which gives us insight into how much data Hubble has managed to collect and how much further we have to go in compiling it all.
This leads us, once again, to Carolin Crawford of Gresham College, who explains why examining stars and star dust is essential to understanding how the universe continues to form and evolve.
Carolin Crawford: Star Dust from Gresham College on FORA.tv
