In late 2009, the Hubble Space Telescope began an ambitious program to map five carefully selected areas of the sky with its sensitive near-infrared camera, the Wide-Field Camera 3. The observations are important for addressing a wide variety of questions, from testing theories for the birth and evolution of galaxies, to refining our understanding of the geometry of the universe.
This is a research blog written by people involved in the project. We aim to share some of the excitement of working at the scientific frontier, using one of the greatest telescopes ever built. We will also share some of the trials and tribulations of making the project work, from the complications of planning and scheduling the observations to the challenges of trying to understand the data. Along the way, we may comment on trends in astronomy or other such topics.
CANDELS stands for the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey. It builds on the legacy of the Hubble Deep Field, as well as the wider-area surveys called GOODS, AEGIS, COSMOS, and UKIDSS UDS. The CANDELS observations are designed to search for galaxies within about a billion years of the big bang, study galaxies at cosmic high-noon about 3 billion years after the big bang - when star-formation and black hole growth were at their peak intensity - and discover distant supernovae for refining our understanding of cosmic acceleration. You can find more details, and download the CANDELS data, from the CANDELS website.
You can also use the Hubble Legacy Archive to view the CANDELS images, such as this one from the UDS.
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