Astrophotography Hobby.

[zimok]

(1) It's expanding, and I believe scientists have been able to observe the beginnings of the universe through telescopes because the images (traveling at the speed of light) took so long to travel far enough to be visible.

It's like being given a window view to your birth. Very strange.

(2) Those are amazing pictures. Were they color enhanced? I live in an area that's hopeless for star gazing, because it's far too bright at all hours to observe the stars (there's a street light across the street). Now the middle of Kansas would be amazing. I have never before seen such a black night.

(1) This video illustrates your point, it does go quite far back, they can peer back to very early galaxy formations. It is quite amazing!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcBV-cXVWFw"]YouTube - The Hubble Deep Field: The Most Important Image Ever Taken[/ame]

(2) Through spectroscopy they are able to determine the chemical composition of any star/nebula/atmosphere and colors are associated to each chemical or chemical composition to produce the array of colors we see in hubble space telescope pictures.