the early universe

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
(Carl Sagan)

the first galaxies

The End of the Dark Ages

This timeline of the universe demonstrates how far back the current generation of deep images bring us. For example, galaxies seen in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (the deepest image ever taken by human kind) date to as early as 700-900 million years after the Big Bang (5-7% of the age of the universe). Since the first galaxies and stars are thought to form just 200-300 million years after the Big Bang, current observations are now bringing us very close to first light.

Credit:NASA/STSCI