Hubble Space Telescope: a gateway into the past

Hubble Space Telescope has detected galaxies formed 600 to 800 million years after the beginning of the universe. Would we want to look back even farther before the big bang? The more info we can gather the better we can understand what that time was like.

Image credit: Hubblesite.org
Hubble Space Telescope has detected galaxies formed 600 to 800 million years after the beginning of the universe. Would we want to look back even farther before the big bang? The more info we can gather the better we can understand what that time was like.

There are a countless number of stars and a countless number of planets in the universe. It is estimated that there are 50 billion galaxies, but there are probably more. This increases the possibility that we are not alone in the universe. In fact, five new exoplanets have been discovered, but these planets, which are all gas giants are not particularly unusual. However, another group of planets has been discovered that are hotter than their parent star, which is quite remarkable.

Also don’t miss highlights in the night sky this week.

Listen:
[audio: st20100111.mp3]