As the Atlantis shuttle astronauts upgrade and repair the Hubble telescope, scientists are having to evaluate one of its most astonishing finds.
In January this year the Hubble telescope spotted what was thought to be the most distant galaxy seen so far. It's distance was estimated at around 12.8 billion light years. It was something of a coup for the space telescope because all other Earth based observatories were unable to find it.
Now, in light of the adjustments made to the delicate instrumentation, the initial observation is being re-assessed.
As one scientist told us, "As part of the current activity the astronauts have been carry out a certain amount of cleaning work. It would now appear that this galaxy was in fact a nasty smudge on the lens. Ooops."
