HUBBLE APPROACHES THE FINAL FRONTIER: THE DAWN OF GALAXIES (STScI-PR04-28)

From: INBOX ASTRONOMY: NEWS ALERT (hst-news_at_stsci.edu)
Date: 09/23/04 

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 12:52:24 -0400

FOR RELEASE: 9:00 am (EDT) September 23, 2004

CONTACT:
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-4514; E-mail: villard@stsci.edu)

PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR04-28

HUBBLE APPROACHES THE FINAL FRONTIER: THE DAWN OF GALAXIES

Detailed analyses of mankind's deepest optical view of the universe, the
Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), by several expert teams have at last
identified what may turn out to be some of the earliest star-forming
galaxies. Astronomers are now debating whether the hottest stars in
these early galaxies may have provided enough radiation to "lift a
curtain" of cold, primordial hydrogen that cooled after the big bang.
This is a problem that has perplexed astronomers over the past decade,
and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has at last glimpsed what could be the
"end of the opening act" of galaxy formation. These faint sources
illustrate how astronomers can begin to explore when the first galaxies
formed and what their properties might be. But even though Hubble has
looked 95 percent of the way back to the beginning of time, astronomers
agree that's not far enough.

To see and read more, please visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2004/28
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2004/28/video/a

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA),
for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, Md. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of
international cooperation between NASA and the European Space
Agency (ESA).

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