Among the faintest objects are
some of the most unusual objects. The Hubble Deep Field South was released
after much anticipation earlier this month, delivering a unique view of
some of the most distant parts of our universe. Part of this field is shown
above. Numerous astronomers are currently poring over this field, trying
to find clues about young galaxies, cosmological curvature, and dark matter.
Clearly, visible among galaxies as dim as magnitude 30 in this long-duration
exposure (and in the original Hubble Deep Field North), are many peculiar
looking galaxies. One interesting artifact is the blue arc just to the
upper right of the large galaxy near the image center. This arc may be
light from a more distant galaxy focused by the gravitational lens effect
of the nearer galaxy.