The Hubble Deep Field began as a gamble on a tiny patch of sky that had been chosen because it looked almost empty, and it ended by revealing nearly 3,000 galaxies hiding in what seemed like nothing.

The Hubble Deep Field began as a gamble on a tiny patch of sky that had been chosen because it looked almost empty, and it ended by revealing nearly 3,000 galaxies hiding in what seemed like nothing.

In December 1995, the Hubble Space Telescope spent ten days staring at a small, deliberately unremarkable patch of sky. The resulting image contained around 3,000 galaxies. The decision to do it was contested, and the astronomer who pushed it through did so over the objections of senior colleagues. What is worth adding is the part the headline compresses. The patch was not chosen because it happened to look empty. It was chosen to be empty, and …