A galaxy longest ago and farthest away

The first thing you need to understand is that the Universe is big, really big, you can’t wrap your brain around it big.  Even though most of our species doesn’t want to admit it, some attempt to grasp just how small and insignificant we are on a cosmic scale is a remarkable intellectual achievement.  Probably this is an affront to the ego of many who gain their sense of superiority by stepping on ants.  So here is a link to a new deep space image that shows a galaxy whose image isn’t just long ago and far away, it is at present the longest ago and the farthest away thing ever seen.  The Hubble ultra deep field is another image you get by taking a very long exposure on a portion of the sky not occupied by stars in our own galaxy, and the amazing thing is that this view, one tiny little segment of the sky shows over 200,000 galaxies, a view that represents just 0.004% of the sky.  You do the math.  Does this give you a new perspective on what BIG means? How amazing that from our teeny tiny mote we know about this.  Now think about that ant's perspective, and step carefully.   

Starry, starry night - more science geeky stuff

These are really pretty amazing images from Starts with a Bang. Galaxies as far as our telescopes can see. If these don't make your world view seem small and parochial, then you really don't get it. Earth is but the tiniest of insignificant motes whose carbon-based, ape-descended intelligent life forms are so utterly primitive that they think themselves the pinnacle of creation.