I am in awe. This magnificent shot gets me about as close to religion as I’ll ever get.
A question: There are a few stars visible in the image (they have diffraction spikes). I assume these represent intervening, background stars and are relatively local. My question is - what magnitude would they be? Approximately.
I can’t believe it. I thought I was in GQ. Really.
Would a nice moderator please be so kind as to move it?
Thanks
It’s going to be hard to say unless you can name some of the objects in the picture. Given that, you could look up their magnitude and compare it with the stars. This might not be accurate though, because the picture has certainly been digitally manipulated.
My astronomy professor showed us that image in class today. The stars in the field have an approximate apparent magnitude of about +20. They are so faint they can only be viewed with a large telescope. The the faintest galaxies in the image are about +30. Here’s the Hubblesite where all the images can be found. Also, here’s the STScI for more technical info.
The The Hubble Deep Field (Sept 2002) is said to show galaxies as faint as magnitude 30. The The Hubble Ultra Deep Field (Mar 2004) is said to be four times more sensitive, in some colors, than the original Hubble Deep Field. However the hubbel site Q&A on the ultra deep field, also lists 30 as the limiting magnitude, so something is a bit screwy between the two figures.
Taking 30 as the limiting magnitude for stars, as well as galaxies, we can calculate how far away the sun could be, and still show up as a “foreground” star in the picture. Using an absolute magnitude for the sun of 4.4, and m = M + 5log(d) - 5 ( M = absolute magnitude, d is in parsecs at 3.26 LY/pc), the sun would show up in the photo at a distance of about 4.3 million light years.
That’s a couple of times the distance to the galaxy in Andromeda; not very local at all.
Ain’t that a purty pitcher.
I have a poster of the HDF opposite my shitter. It was the only place I could hang it 'cause I just about crap my pants every time I look at it. But since my pants are on the foor at that point it turns out OK.
It turns out that stars aren’t the actors in the cosmic drama. They’re only the molecules in the actor’s bodies.
And NASA wants to kill the Hubble. 
I don’t suppose anyone has set up a subscription fee to save it? I’d be delighted to hand over some money for that.
Wow…
Just… wow.
sigh
Beautiful, yes.
But also slightly saddening.
That so many of us ache to be able to reach out and touch those places. To travel closer and see what they are REALLY like.
But all we can do is view them across a vast distance of Time and Space. The extent of our ability to interact with those places is merely to stand here on our little ball of mud and shout, "Hey! Is anybody out there?!?"
At this moment, all those near-infinitely-distant places are so alien that that photo might as well be a painting - spatters of ink spawned from a Pollock fever-dream. For all we know, they may not even be there any more. These photos, like those rocks shaped like the bones of ancient lizards, serve only to remind us of how much we will never know.
“…put out my hand and touch the face of God.”’
But, like the OP saying the photo “gets me about as close to religion as I’ll ever get”, it stirs something in my soul, as well. For though God has limited my ability to see those places in this life, I have certain assurance that He’ll take me to them in the next.
Considering that some of the galaxies in the image are about 3400 Mpc (11 billion lightyears) away, those stars are pretty local. Andromeda is only about 2.5 million lightyears away, just around the corner really!
I think NASA has a replacement lined up thats even better. They just haven’t told us about it yet * (at least in detail anyway) *
Nitpick: according to Gliese’s CNS3 (1991), the absolute magnitude of the Sun is +4.85. Doesn’t negate what you said about the resulting distance being very large though.
It’s mind boggling that there are really that many galaxies out there, and that they come in such a variety of shapes and colors.
That image was taken by pointing the telescope at a portion of the sky in Ursa Major for 10 days.
This map shows that any number of stars might be the ones in the image.
Thanks for the answer.
And thanks even more for sharing with me your appreciation of the majesty of that image.
[sub][sup]BTW, it is more than ironic that the day I posted that link is the one day the APOD site seems to be down![/sup][/sub]
My God, it’s full of stars!
Am I the only one who gets “Cannot find server”? I mean, the default broken link page isn’t THAT beautiful, is it?
No, I having problems too, but only with rogers.com (and you use that IIRC). I am not having a problem accessing it from my connection at work.
Me too. Couldn’t get anything with Rogers last night, but here at work? Not a single problem. Odd.
If you want I could email you a copy.
I’m reluctant to nitpick with the Creator, but aren’t these galaxies rendered in false color?
Aren’t galaxies actually off-white in color? Taupe? Beige? Seafoam Green? 
