Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/A. Kashlinsky (GSFC)

The Universe's First Fireworks

The right panel is an image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope of stars and galaxies in the Ursa Major constellation. This infrared image covers a region of space so large that light would take up to 100 million years to travel across it. The left panel is the same image after stars, galaxies and other sources were masked out. The remaining background light is from a period of time when the universe was less than one billion years old, and most likely originated from the universe's very first groups of objects -- either huge stars or voracious black holes. Darker shades in the image on the left correspond to dimmer parts of the background glow, while yellow and white show the brightest light.

About the Object	Object Name: Hubble Deep Field Object Type: Galaxy Field Position (J2000): RA: 12h 36m 49.50s Dec: +62° 12' 58.0'' Constellation: Ursa Major
About the Data	Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/A. Kashlinsky (GSFC) Instrument: Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) Wavelength: 3.6, 4.5, and 5.8 microns Exposure Date: May 19, 2004 - May 26 2004 Exposure Time: 24 hours per pixel Field of View: 972 by 610 pixels with 0.6 arcsec pixels Orientation: N is 139.9 degrees CW from up Release Date: December 18, 2006
Observers	A. Kashlinsky (Goddard Space Flight Center) R. G. Arendt (Goddard Space Flight Center) J. Mather (Goddard Space Flight Center) S. H. Moseley (Goddard Space Flight Center)

Individual Images

	Background radiation, with foreground objects removed. Screen-Resolution (450x282): JPEG High-Resolution (2430x1525): JPEG | Mac TIFF | PC TIFF Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/A. Kashlinsky (GSFC)
	Foreground objects. Screen-Resolution (450x282): JPEG High-Resolution (2430x1525): JPEG | Mac TIFF | PC TIFF Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/A. Kashlinsky (GSFC)

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