Getting the GOODS on Galaxies

A telescope views patches of the universe in a rainbow of colors

Over the past decade, the Hubble Space Telescope has literally changed our view of the universe. Much of what we now understand about galaxy formation has been gleaned from Hubble staring for 10 days at a single tiny patch of sky. Within this region, the Earth-orbiting telescope has catalogued the shape, brightness, and color of galaxies that are only 500-millionths as bright as the eye can see.