Richard Merrick
Ultra deep field
Here are the latest up close and personal views of our universe. Definitely worth the time to look at.
I first saw this image right after it came out a few years ago and even used it as my desktop background for a while.
During this time, I had to do a big strategy presentation to all the senior management at the $1.5B corporate giant that had just acquired my tiny Internet firm. As usual, my computer was connected to a large projection screen, inadvertently displaying this beautiful image for all to ponder in silence. As I was looking for the Powerpoint to run, the CEO asked me about the background. I stopped what I was doing and proceeded to tell the group that we were looking at the Hubble deep field image. I explained that this was a field of nothing but galaxies at the furthest reaches of the universe. I then said:
'I made this my background so that when things got really stressful and frustrating, I could just gaze into it and say to myself: It just doesn't matter.'
With this the room erupted into uproarious laughter. I then proceeded with my Powerpoint presentation, quickly blocking out the view of some three thousand galaxies.
Here is another nice picture of the Orion Nebula:




