Signatures of the Earliest Galaxies

The three panels show different components of near-infrared background light detected by the Hubble Space Telescope in deep-sky surveys. The one on the left is a mosaic of images taken over a 10-year period. When all the stars and galaxies are masked, the background signals can be isolated, as seen in the second and third panels. The middle panel reveals "intra-halo light" from rogue stars torn from their host galaxies, and the panel on the right captures the signature of the first galaxies formed in the universe.