THE BIG BANG, SO CLOSE AND YET...

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers reached deep into space and time to come within "a stone's throw'' of the Big Bang itself.

Astronomers at the Space Telescopic Science Institute on the Johns Hopkins University campus used the Hubble to obtain the deepest telescopic view into the universe ever - a million-second exposure of a small patch of dark sky in the constellation Fornax.

But scientists cautioned that more work would be required before they know if their surmises are correct. Astronomers will not be able to take a deeper picture until the James Webb Space Telescope goes into orbit in 2011.
via NYTimes