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New Hubble space telescope image peers 13 billion years back in time

New Hubble space telescope image peers 13 billion years back in time

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Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (HXDF)
Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (HXDF)

A new composite image published by NASA shows some galaxies as they were 13.2 billion years ago, presenting a small section of space in full color. Known as the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (HXDF), the view is the product of more than 2,000 individual images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope over the past ten years, with a total exposure time of more than two million seconds — it complements the existing Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), which shows a wider area.

While the HXDF shows roughly 5,500 individual galaxies, it represents only a tiny fraction of the known universe. According to an explanatory video, embedded below, the telescope would have to take another 30 million images to provide anything close to a full, panoramic representation. Check out a 2382 x 2078 JPG of the HXDF here, or download the full, 13MB TIF file for a closer look — the team behind the image will be answering questions on Google+ from 1:00 PM ET tomorrow.