Space

Images From Hubble's New Camera

On the last day of April, NASA unveiled four detailed images snapped by Hubble Space Telescope's newest camera.

As spectacular as the central subjects of the photographs are, the background is of critical importance to astronomers.

What appear as jewel-toned pinwheels, ovals and diamonds on the blackness of space are actually faraway galaxies.

The sharpness of these images will allow scientists to study the furthest reaches of the universe.

"We are looking back across 90 percent of the age of the universe," Johns Hopkins University astronomer Holland Ford, the lead investigator on the project, said.

"We are seeing galaxies that we estimate formed within 1 billion years of the birth of the universe," he added.

Many scientists believe the universe began with a monstrous explosion, called the big bang, some 14 billion years ago. Hubble, launched 12 years ago at a cost of about $2.2 billion.