WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.020 --> 00:00:04.170 [slate] The Hubble Space Telescope has given us 2 00:00:04.190 --> 00:00:08.220 an amazing new image of deep space. So when you look at 3 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:12.280 the image you're seeing hundreds, possibly thousands of galaxies 4 00:00:12.300 --> 00:00:16.360 and each of these galaxies can contain billions of stars and perhaps 5 00:00:16.380 --> 00:00:20.470 their planetary systems. So it's quite mind blowing what we're seeing here. 6 00:00:20.490 --> 00:00:24.670 [slate] We're calling this a frontier 7 00:00:24.690 --> 00:00:28.730 field because it's helping us push the frontiers of what we understand 8 00:00:28.750 --> 00:00:32.820 in astrophysics about the universe. This is an image 9 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:36.940 of a cluster of galaxies. There's so much mass in this cluster 10 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:41.100 from the galaxies and from the dark matter that we don't actually see 11 00:00:41.120 --> 00:00:45.150 that it can actually distort space itself. This is a phenomenon 12 00:00:45.170 --> 00:00:49.250 that Albert Einstein predicted. And in this case light traveling 13 00:00:49.270 --> 00:00:53.370 through this distorted space will itself get distorted 14 00:00:53.390 --> 00:00:57.580 and magnified. What that means is in this image we can actually see 15 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:01.630 distant galaxies behind the foreground cluster of galaxies 16 00:01:01.650 --> 00:01:05.720 and the light from those distant galaxies is getting warped. You can see 17 00:01:05.740 --> 00:01:09.830 kind of funny looking arcs in this image. And also magnified 18 00:01:09.850 --> 00:01:14.010 It's helping us understand the dark matter in this foreground cluster 19 00:01:14.030 --> 00:01:18.080 that you can't see itself. But it's also helping us to understand these 20 00:01:18.100 --> 00:01:22.160 very distant galaxies that are being magnified by this effect. 21 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:26.270 It's so far in space and time that we wouldn't be able to see them well without 22 00:01:26.290 --> 00:01:30.310 gravitational lensing. [slate] 23 00:01:30.330 --> 00:01:34.460 Well the Hubble Space Telescope 24 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:38.620 is helping us understand the universe very distant 25 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:42.680 and the universe very close. So it's helping us understand these very 26 00:01:42.700 --> 00:01:46.790 distant galaxies such as the frontier fields are showing us, but it's 27 00:01:46.810 --> 00:01:50.930 also helping us understand in our own galaxy these nurseries 28 00:01:50.950 --> 00:01:54.990 where stars and planetary systems are formed. We're looking at these 29 00:01:55.010 --> 00:01:59.040 nebulae that are signposts of recent star formation. 30 00:01:59.060 --> 00:02:03.110 We're studying regions around stars where planets are forming. We're even 31 00:02:03.130 --> 00:02:07.230 analyzing the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system. 32 00:02:07.250 --> 00:02:11.380 We just recently released a new 33 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:15.450 analysis of the atmosphere of two of these exoplanets from Earth- 34 00:02:15.470 --> 00:02:19.510 sized planets that are in a system only 39 light years away. That's 35 00:02:19.530 --> 00:02:23.540 very close by in cosmic terms. [slate] 36 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:27.660 37 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:31.800 Oh Hubble has seen so many fantastic 38 00:02:31.820 --> 00:02:36.000 phenomenon and objects in space, it's hard to know where to begin. But 39 00:02:36.020 --> 00:02:40.060 the most interesting features we've seen are with galaxies. 40 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:44.160 We've seen that galaxies can actually merge together and 41 00:02:44.180 --> 00:02:48.310 create tidal forces that spur new star formation in those galaxies 42 00:02:48.330 --> 00:02:52.360 We've actually learned that the cores of galaxies 43 00:02:52.380 --> 00:02:56.450 can contain supermassive black holes. These beasts 44 00:02:56.470 --> 00:03:00.560 are pulling in a lot of matter, but they also can foster 45 00:03:00.580 --> 00:03:04.690 the expelling of these high velocity jets that can move 46 00:03:04.710 --> 00:03:08.880 almost as fast as the speed of light. We're also 47 00:03:08.900 --> 00:03:12.940 finding phenomena that span the whole range of the universe 48 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:17.050 We've found with Hubble and with ground-based telescopes working together 49 00:03:17.070 --> 00:03:21.180 that the universe is not only expanding but that expansion 50 00:03:21.200 --> 00:03:25.230 is actually getting faster. It's accelerating, pushed apart by something 51 00:03:25.250 --> 00:03:29.290 we're calling dark energy as we study more and try to understand what that actually 52 00:03:29.310 --> 00:03:33.390 is. These unexpected discoveries with Hubble keep us 53 00:03:33.410 --> 00:03:37.520 freshly excited about what's yet to discover in the universe 54 00:03:37.540 --> 00:03:41.700 and so Hubble is continuing in a very healthy and active mode to 55 00:03:41.720 --> 00:03:45.750 discover new things in the universe that we never expected before. 56 00:03:45.770 --> 00:03:49.880 [slate] 57 00:03:49.900 --> 00:03:53.950 Star Trek and other similar science fiction 58 00:03:53.970 --> 00:03:58.100 TV shows and films I think inspired me to be curious 59 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:02.160 about the universe. I wanted to explore myself 60 00:04:02.180 --> 00:04:06.210 and go see those strange new worlds. I wanted to learn about 61 00:04:06.230 --> 00:04:10.280 moons around other planets, I wanted 62 00:04:10.300 --> 00:04:14.390 to learn about other star systems. So I think 63 00:04:14.410 --> 00:04:18.560 Star Trek inspires curiosity and wonder and a sense of aw 64 00:04:18.580 --> 00:04:22.620 in the universe. And science is a wonderful tool for exploring 65 00:04:22.640 --> 00:04:26.720 the wonders of nature. So I think that's why ultimately became a scientist. 66 00:04:26.740 --> 00:04:30.840 An astronomer, because of that curiosity 67 00:04:30.860 --> 00:04:35.010 that was fertilized by Star Trek and other very interesting science fiction 68 00:04:35.030 --> 00:04:39.080 And science fact that I learned about from a young age. 69 00:04:39.100 --> 00:04:43.250 [slate] 70 00:04:43.270 --> 00:04:47.390 Well these deep fields of space like the frontier field 71 00:04:47.410 --> 00:04:51.580 are phenomenal because they show us that galaxies fill the universe. 72 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:55.640 So in fact if we pointed the telescope in any direction 73 00:04:55.660 --> 00:04:59.730 and collected light for quite a long time we'd see another collection of galaxies 74 00:04:59.750 --> 00:05:03.870 just like this. Now the frontier fields are unique because 75 00:05:03.890 --> 00:05:07.930 we have pointed them specifically at regions where there are clusters of 76 00:05:07.950 --> 00:05:11.980 galaxies. So there's quite a few galaxies that are held near each other by their 77 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:16.050 mutual gravity. We did that on purpose because we wanted to study those 78 00:05:16.070 --> 00:05:20.170 clusters and we wanted to study this phenomenon called gravitational lensing. 79 00:05:20.190 --> 00:05:24.350 Where all the mass in this cluster including 80 00:05:24.370 --> 00:05:28.410 the dark matter we can't actually see, will distort space 81 00:05:28.430 --> 00:05:32.490 and will actually magnify light from even more distant galaxies. 82 00:05:32.510 --> 00:05:36.590 [slate] 83 00:05:36.610 --> 00:05:40.640 Well the Hubble telescope has a wonderful gallery of 84 00:05:40.660 --> 00:05:44.720 images that's free and available to everyone on our website, which is 85 00:05:44.740 --> 00:05:48.850 nasa.gov/hubble. You can also find us on Twitter 86 00:05:48.870 --> 00:05:53.020 @NASA_Hubble. And you'll see 87 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:57.080 on these sites and on Twitter that we have a new campaign called "Spot Hubble." 88 00:05:57.100 --> 00:06:01.170 This is a campaign to help all of us spot images of 89 00:06:01.190 --> 00:06:05.280 Hubble or images from the Hubble telescope in culture all around us. 90 00:06:05.300 --> 00:06:09.440 The Hubble Space Telescope has inspired people all around the world through these iconic 91 00:06:09.460 --> 00:06:13.500 images and we see them everywhere around us so here's a place we can gather 92 00:06:13.520 --> 00:06:17.610 these iconic images and enjoy what the Hubble Space Telescope is providing 93 00:06:17.630 --> 00:06:21.261 for us in terms of exploring the universe.