The Hubble Deep Field

The Hubble Deep Field

The Hubble Deep Field is a portrait of a small region of the Ursa Major constellation. At the time it was the deepest visible light view of space. It disproved many ideas that scientists had, most said that a picture that deep could not be taken. It's a phenomenon known as cosmological dimming which is defined as 1+z^4, z being the redshift and distance from earth while 1+z is the factor of light wavelength being stretched. In simpler terms cosmological dimming states that the farther you place an object the smaller and more indistinguishable it gets. Furthermore taking into account that the universe's expansion weakens the light that each distant galaxy emits, the size and clarity are decreased greatly with distance. When the project was just an idea it was difficult to find support and determine if it was even worthwhile the effort. A panel was constructed of several leading scientists in the field and the question was asked on how to proceed about doing something of this nature. Unfortunately the panel was unable to come up with a decision but rather discussed it all day. Astronomer Robert Williams who formed the panel decided that if a panel of such experts who discuss such a topic in detail for so long then it must be a good idea. Then in December of 1995 the Hubble was pointed at lone patch in the sky for 10 consecutive days resulting the HDF the single most sensitive (deepest) astronomical image at the time. Regrettably in 2004 the Hubble Ultra Deep Field was recorded making it the new deepest visible light image of distant galaxies to date.