The study, called the Ultraviolet Coverage of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UVUDF), directly imaged stars and other celestial bodies that would have been impossible to observe on the ground, and gives astronomers critical information that will prove useful as the launch of the more powerful James Webb Space Telescope approaches.

Before Hubble was launched into orbit in 1990, astronomers could only observe celestial bodies up to seven billion light-years away. Over the last two decades, we've made plenty of progress: the infrared cameras in Hubble's Ultra Deep Field survey have detected the very earliest galaxies, formed as early as 13 billion years ago; and in the meantime, ultraviolet telescope facilities on Earth have also allowed us to investigate star formation taking place in nearby galaxies.