Scientists Mine Hubble Images to Create the Deepest Space Image To Date

The Hubble Space Telescope has generated some of the most mesmerizing glimpses of distant objects humans have ever seen. However, one particular photo has repeatedly stunned researchers and continues to warrant discoveries.

The photo in question? A composite image of an area of space known as the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field. It took hundreds of hours to capture this photo using the telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3. The observations unveiled ancient galaxies dating as far back as 13.2 billion years, and it’s the “deepest” image of space that currently exists. Now, a new endeavour to mine the original photos for further detail has resulted in an even more extensive look into that region of space.

Researchers from Spain’s Canary Islands published a new paper in Astronomy & Astrophysics, detailing how they were able to detect faint objects hiding in the original Hubble images that weren’t visible in the more substantial composite.

In a statement, Alejandro S. Borlaff of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) said that they have gone back to the archive of the original images, directly as observed by the HST, and improved the process of combination, striving for the best image quality not only for the more distant smaller galaxies but also for the extended areas of the most massive galaxies.

In comparison to the original composite, the resulting image looks a bit strange but it’s easier to see the new light sources coming out of what was previously a dark black canvas. These new “ultra-deep” images portray objects that are more distant than the closer galaxies in the foreground, which have been dated to around 13.2 billion years ago.

The method the team used to identify hidden light sources could potentially be used with other images of space, and we could learn even more about what lies beyond.

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