Early image captured by the Herschel telescope

This is an early image captured by the Herschel telescope. This patchwork image is a small snapshot of visible space, (the Herschel telescope, although currently the largest telescope in space is the first of it's type and as technology advances this may well seem antiquated in years to come) and so visible space will also increase. Each dot that appears in the picture is a galaxy. The image represents light that is 10 - 12 billion years old, therefore there would be many changes to this image if it was in real time. The Herschel telescope relies on liquid nitrogen to cool the apparatus, this coolant has an approximate life span of three years, after that, when the camera's on the telescope begin to warm, it will no longer be able to see infa-red light, and therefore will be rendered useless. The telescope and apparatus is cooled to 10 degree's above absolute zero, or, -263 degrees Kelvin.