A series of photos taken from space more than 20 years ago revealed thousands of unknown galaxies in a tiny patch of "empty" space. Called the Hubble Deep Field, the amazing image is made up of hundreds of photos combined into one. It was taken over the course of 10 days from the Hubble Space Telescope and has prompted astronomers and other scientists to speculate about universe's size, shape, and age. How long ago did the first galaxies appear? Have they always looked like they do today, or have their shapes evolved over time? And will they, along with the universe itself, go on expanding forever? The Hubble Deep Field has helped to answer some of these questions.
"...looks at the challenge and significance of the iconic 1995 Hubble photo showing countless galaxies in a bit of space that could be covered by a grain of sand held at arm's length. The book tells the story of Hubble (both the astronomer and the telescope), explains what the Deep Field was and why it was difficult to capture, and then guides the reader through the scientific and cultural impact of the photo. It goes on to describe the later Deep Field photos -- the Deep Field South (1998), Ultra Deep Field (2004), the Ultra Deep Field IR (2010), and the Extreme Deep Field (2012) -- and explains how each of these reached deeper into the history of the cosmos."
