The GOODS survey, with targets in the northern and southern skies, covers 60 times the area of the original Hubble Deep Field observations, taken in 1995. In fact, the survey encompasses such a wide area that astronomers tiled together a series of exposures from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys to make the large mosaic of the Southern Hemisphere field.

MPeg Movie 11 Megs

Video Credit: NASA and G. Bacon (STScI)

This video compares the large area in the northern GOODS field, observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory, with the smaller region viewed with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The video begins with the Chandra field, which is over half the size of the full moon, and then zooms into the field to show several supermassive black holes [the red blobs], before dissolving to the Hubble image. Astronomers discovered that the positions of the black holes matched the location of the galaxies in the Hubble image.

MPeg Movie 2.24 Megs

Video Credit: NASA and G. Bacon (STScI)

Astronomers are using these three Hubble telescope images of nearby galaxies to help tackle the question of why their distant relatives have such odd shapes, appearing markedly different from the typical "ellipticals" and "spirals" seen in the nearby universe. By viewing these galaxies in ultraviolet light, astronomers can compare their shapes with those of their distant relatives. The results of their survey support the idea that astronomers are detecting the "tip of the iceberg" of very distant galaxies. Based on these Hubble ultraviolet images, not all the faraway galaxies necessarily possess intrinsically odd shapes.

Photo credits: NASA, Rogier Windhorst (Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ), and the Hubble mid-UV team

The arrows in this Hubble image indicate three of the thirty objects that the team discovered using Hubble's new Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Astronomers believe that these numerous objects are faint young star-forming galaxies seen when the universe was seven times smaller than it is today (at redshifts of about 6) and less than a billion years old. This is right around the cosmic epoch where astronomers believe that radiation from hot stars in numerous young galaxies was converting the universe's cool hydrogen into a hot ionized gas.

The distances to the suspected young galaxies are believed to be so large given how red the observed objects are. This is interpreted as being caused by the enormous expansion of the universe since that early epoch. Almost all of the ultraviolet light from the young stars has been stretched (or redshifted) to far-red wavelengths. As a consequence, these three objects are only visible in the reddest of the two filters aboard the ACS.

The entire ACS field of view shows about thirty such faint red objects. This means nearly 8,000 such objects would fill a patch of sky no bigger than what is covered by holding your thumb at arm's length, the Arizona researchers estimate. They conclude that at least 400 million such objects filled in the entire universe at this cosmic epoch to the limit of this Hubble image. And, this is likely only the tip of the iceberg. NASA's planned 7-meter James Webb Space Telescope will see the entire population of these proto-galactic objects.

Analyzing some of the deepest images ever taken of the heavens, the astronomers conclude that small irregular objects called "blue dwarfs" were more numerous several billion years ago, outnumbering giant elliptical galaxies and spiral galaxies like our Milky Way. This means that blue dwarfs are a more important constituent of the universe and figure more prominently in the evolution of galaxies than previously thought.

A series of remarkable pictures, spanning the life history of the cosmos, are providing the first clues to the life history of galaxies. The Hubble results suggest that elliptical galaxies developed remarkably quickly into their present shapes. However, spiral galaxies that existed in large clusters evolved over a much longer period — the majority being built and then torn apart by dynamic processes in a restless universe. These pictures of faraway galaxies, located 5 to 10 billion light-years from Earth, illustrate the findings.

Credit: Mark Dickinson (STScI) and NASA

[far left column]
These are traditional spiral and elliptical-shaped galaxies that make up the two basic classes of island star cities that inhabit the universe we see in our current epoch (14 billion years after the birth of the universe in the Big Bang). Elliptical galaxies contain older stars, while spirals have vigorous ongoing star formation in their dusty, pancake-shaped disks. Our Milky Way galaxy is a typical spiral, or disk-shaped galaxy, on the periphery of the great Virgo cluster. Both galaxies in this column are a few tens of millions of light-years away, and therefore represent our current stage of the universe's evolution.

[center left column]
These galaxies existed in a rich cluster when the universe was approximately two-thirds its present age. Elliptical galaxies (top) appear fully evolved because they resemble today's descendants. By contrast, some spirals have a frothier appearance, with loosely shaped arms of young star formation. The spiral population appears more disrupted due to a variety of possible dynamical effects that result from dwelling in a dense cluster.

[center right column]
Distinctive spiral structure appears more vague and disrupted in galaxies that existed when the universe was nearly one-third its present age. These objects do not have the symmetry of current day spirals and contain irregular lumps of starburst activity. However, even this far back toward the beginning of time, the elliptical galaxy (top) is still clearly recognizable. However, the distinction between ellipticals and spirals grows less certain with increasing distance.

[far right column]
These extremely remote, primeval objects existed with the universe was nearly one-tenth its current age. The distinction between spiral and elliptical galaxies may well disappear at this early epoch. However, the object in the top frame has the light profile of a mature elliptical galaxy. This implies that ellipticals formed remarkably early in the universe while spiral galaxies took much longer to form.

Credit: A. Dressler (Carnegie Institutions of Washington), M. Dickinson (STScI), D. Macchetto (ESA/STScI), M. Giavalisco (STScI), and NASA

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

These are composite images of the galaxy 0313-192, the first spiral galaxy known to be producing a giant radio-emitting jet. The image at left represents two views of the galaxy that astronomers have combined into one photograph. The view of the galaxy and its surrounding environment was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The red material in the image represents the radio-emitting jet, which was taken by the Very Large Array. The galaxy is seen edge-on. At right is a close-up of the Hubble telescope image. Another red overlay from a higher-resolution Very Large Array picture shows the inner portion of the jet.

Credit: NASA, W. Keel (University of Alabama), M. Ledlow (Gemini Observatory), F. Owen (NRAO) and AUI/NSF

Credit: NASA and Michael Corbin (CSC/STScI)

A unique peanut-shaped cocoon of dust, called a reflection nebula, surrounds a cluster of young, hot stars in this view from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The "double bubble," called N30B, is inside a larger nebula, named DEM L 106. The larger nebula is embedded in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way located 160,000 light-years away. The wispy filaments of DEM L 106 fill much of the image.

Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Appearances can be deceiving. In this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image, an odd celestial duo, the spiral galaxy NGC 4319 [center] and a quasar called Markarian 205 [upper right], appear to be neighbors. In reality, the two objects don't even live in the same city. They are separated by time and space. NGC 4319 is 80 million light-years from Earth. Markarian 205 (Mrk 205) is more than 14 times farther away, residing 1 billion light-years from Earth. The apparent close alignment of Mrk 205 and NGC 4319 is simply a matter of chance.

Credits: NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)