Hubble Astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute in 2004 unveiled the deepest portrait of the visible universe ever achieved by humankind. Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), the million-second-long exposure reveals the first galaxies to emerge from the so-called “dark ages”, the time shortly after the big bang when the first stars reheated the cold, dark universe. The HUDF field contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies. Its worth considering that Earth is part of the Milky Way galaxy, which alone is thought to contain over 100 billion stars! What’s 10,000 x 100 billion?

To view the site and photograpgs go to http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2004/07/text/