This information is of great importance to our understanding of how the matter in the early Universe condensed and the first galaxies and stars came into being. While in the nearby Universe evolved galaxies are preferentially located in denser environments such as groups and clusters of galaxies, little is currently known about the distribution in space of such objects at early cosmic epochs. Such observations are beyond the capability of the infrared cameras installed on the world's 4-m class telescopes. Such observations also benefit greatly from the very good optical quality provided by the active optics control of the VLT, as well as the excellent Paranal site. The pixel size is 0.15 arcsec.
North is up and east is left.
See also the technical note below. Note the relatively high density of red galaxies, visible in the upper right part of this image. This area of the sky is remarkably devoid of bright stars and provides a clear view towards the remote Universe, as there is little obscuring dust in our own Galaxy, the Milky Way, in this direction. It is therefore uniquely suited to probe the depth of the Universe. As seen on the photos, there are great numbers of faint galaxies in this direction.