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The Hubble Deep Field, a view to the edge of the visible universe
Photo credit: Robert Williams and the Hubble Deep Field Team (STScI)/NASA
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By allowing us to prove our worth as humans in a technology-dominated
reality, Hubble once again enjoyed Most Favored Telescope Status and returned the favor with a wealth of astronomical advancement:
>> By its eighth year in orbit, it archived 4.44 terabytes of data, enough to fill 710 12-inch optical disks at 6.66 GB per disk, and allowed astronomers to publish more than 1700 scientific papers.
>> Observed what are believed to be the oldest galaxies in existence,
infant spirals and ellipses ten billion years older than our own solar
system, hence determining the age of the universe (around 15 billion years old).
>> Cataloged the entire life-cycle of stars, filling gaps in the Big
Book of Astronomy with brilliant pictures of star collisions, births and sensational deaths.
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