How big is the patch of sky compared with the full Moon?

About one-tenth of its diameter

Why does the image show the early universe?

Light from distant galaxies took billions of years to arrive

Hubble Ultra Deep Field Quiz: Thousands of Galaxies in One Image

Astronomers pointed the telescope at a spot in Fornax that looked empty, and this Hubble Ultra Deep Field quiz reveals what appeared after hundreds of orbits. Play 10 interactive questions on the 2004 release, the 1995 Deep Field in Ursa Major, about a million seconds of exposure, galaxies seen as they were over 13 billion years ago, the eXtreme Deep Field and Webb's deeper views.

Start Hubble Ultra Deep Field Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Count
Roughly how many galaxies appear in the Ultra Deep Field?
Release
When was the Hubble Ultra Deep Field released?
Constellation
In which constellation is the field located?
Size
How big is the patch of sky compared with the full Moon?
Exposure
Roughly how long was the total exposure?
Earlier
Where was the original 1995 Hubble Deep Field?
Lookback
Why does the image show the early universe?
Camera
Which Hubble camera took the main visible-light images?
XDF
What was released in 2012 from the same area?
Webb
Which telescope has since peered even deeper?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Roughly how many galaxies appear in the Ultra Deep Field?
Answer: About 10,000
Almost every dot is a galaxy.
Q2: When was the Hubble Ultra Deep Field released?
Answer: 2004
Observations ran from 2003 into 2004.
Q3: In which constellation is the field located?
Answer: Fornax
It was chosen for its lack of bright stars.
Q4: How big is the patch of sky compared with the full Moon?
Answer: About one-tenth of its diameter
It is a tiny speck of sky.
Q5: Roughly how long was the total exposure?
Answer: About one million seconds
That is over 11 days of light gathering.
Q6: Where was the original 1995 Hubble Deep Field?
Answer: In Ursa Major
It proved the idea worked.
Q7: Why does the image show the early universe?
Answer: Light from distant galaxies took billions of years to arrive
Some light left over 13 billion years ago.
Q8: Which Hubble camera took the main visible-light images?
Answer: The Advanced Camera for Surveys
NICMOS added infrared views.
Q9: What was released in 2012 from the same area?
Answer: The eXtreme Deep Field
It combined ten years of data.
Q10: Which telescope has since peered even deeper?
Answer: The James Webb Space Telescope
Its infrared views reach earlier galaxies.

Hubble Ultra Deep Field Quiz – Thousands of Galaxies in One Image

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field, released in 2004, shows a tiny patch of sky in the constellation Fornax, about one-tenth the diameter of the full Moon. Despite looking empty from Earth, it contains about 10,000 galaxies.

Hubble gathered light for about one million seconds over hundreds of orbits, using the Advanced Camera for Surveys and NICMOS. Because light takes time to travel, the faintest galaxies appear as they were more than 13 billion years ago.

It followed the 1995 Hubble Deep Field in Ursa Major. In 2012 astronomers released the eXtreme Deep Field from the same region, and the James Webb Space Telescope now sees even earlier galaxies in infrared.

What This Quiz Teaches

Space fans and students will enjoy these questions.

What the image shows
Where Hubble looked
How long it observed
Why it reveals the past
Which images followed

Did You Know?

Only a few foreground stars appear in the image.
Galaxies show many shapes and colors.
The field helped measure how galaxies evolve.
Robert Williams championed the first deep field.
Similar fields were imaged in the southern sky.