NASA Begins Deepest Probe Ever into the Universe

Three of NASA's most powerful space telescopes are teaming up to exploit naturally occurring "zoom lenses" in order to uncover galaxies as much as 100 times fainter than those currently observed. Known as gravitational lenses, these objects amplify the light emitted by an object behind it using their gravitational field.

The program, called The Frontier Fields, will observe six massive galaxy clusters during the next three years in order to determine what is both within and beyond them. As some of the most massive known clusters of matter, their gravitational fields are anticipated to be highly effective in magnifying galaxies located beyond them.

"The idea is to use nature's natural telescopes in combination with the great observatories to look much deeper than before and find the most distant and faint galaxies we can possibly see," Jennifer Lotz, a principal investigator with the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), said in a statement.

By combining the separate abilities of the Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra telescopes, the researchers hope to gain an especially clear picture of the distant space bodies.

"Each observatory collects images using different wavelengths of light with the result that we get a much deeper understanding of the underlying physics of these celestial objects," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Researchers plan to start with Abell 2744, also known as Pandora's Cluster, a giant galaxy cluster that appears to have formed when four smaller galaxy clusters merged during a period of 350 million years. By placing it under the microscope, so to speak, the researchers hope to discover galaxies formed when the universe was only a couple hundred million years old.

"We want to understand when and how the first stars and galaxies formed in the universe, and each great observatory gives us a different piece of the puzzle," said Peter Capak, the Spitzer principal investigator for the Frontier Fields program. "Hubble tells you which galaxies to look at and how many stars are being born in those systems. Spitzer tells you how old the galaxy is and how many stars have formed."