Galaxies from the dawn of time (Free Astronomy Public Lectures)

Presented by Dr Ivo Labbe on 21st March 2014.The arrival of modern space telescopes, such as the Hubble Space Telescope have ushered in a true golden age in astronomy. We can now peer farther and deeper into the universe than ever before and are getting an astonishing glimpse of the distant past. The most sensitive astronomical picture ever taken, the so-called Hubble Ultra Deep Field, reveals a time long gone when galaxies like our Milky way were only just forming, bursting with explosive star formation and ultramassive black holes. Hubble's powerful successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is now being build. Launched in 2018, it will allow astronomers to reach the ultimate goal: studying the entire cosmic history, from the very first exploding stars just after the Big Bang, to the rich universe filled with diverse populations of galaxies today.