Hubble, increasingly farther away

1999/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

In 1996 the Hubble spacecraft's WFPC2 camera enabled Deep Zone Images to be obtained and distant galaxies hitherto unknown. These photos captured galaxies of 30 magnitudes, so it was like seeing the cigarette lit from Earth on the Moon. However, the farthest galaxies only appeared as small blue spots.

However, last January, the eye of Hubble was more interiorized in the universe. Through the infrared camera NICMOS was able to see an area of the image of the Deep Zone even with greater resolution. Through the infrared camera, Hubble has received the Galaxy Slides in Gorrirantze and has achieved much better images despite having made shorter exposures.

In the image obtained by the camera NICMOS you can see what existed when the age of the universe was 5% of what it has now, R. of the University of Arizona. As astronomer Thompson says. In the studied area you can see more than 100 galaxies that could not be seen before. Thanks to these images, astronomers want to analyze the evolution of the universe to understand how it became the current structure.