Just because Space is a beautiful thing... Hubble photos

[lunatica]

[NYCGirl]

1. Thank you. Those are breathtaking. NT

[lunatica]

3. The last one is a Supernova remnant

CGI couldn't do it better

[NYCGirl]

4. Amazing. NT

[roguevalley]

48. the crown of thorns is awesome. I am glad they colorize these. they

are so lovely. thank you for this. a nice interlude in the madness that is teabagging. :evilgrin:

[lunatica]

150. .

[annabanana]

2. Amazing that we should be part of that. . . . .n/t

[ElboRuum]

5. Not to toss a wet blanket on this...

But space really ain't that beautiful. What you see published in most Hubble photos are color enhancements to bring out the detail of the structures of these objects. In reality, most things Hubble photographs are not nearly as vibrant as they appear after the color enhancement process.

[doctor jazz]

8. Photoshopped universe!

Yup.
:D

[lunatica]

9. The different colors depict different gases

And each photo takes a very long time to finish. But if our planet has breathtaking colors so does the rest of the universe. We are not made of different stuff.

[tridim]

10. That doesn't matter, the objects are really there!

They just don't produce or reflect much light in the visible spectrum. The false color is not only justified, but it's 100% necessary for study.

What's the problem again?

[customerserviceguy]

84. Hmm, sounds like the same justification used

by Hollywood stars for Botox! :rofl:

[patrice]

12. I knew that. But the variety of structures IS very interesting anyway.

To those of us who didn't know about this variety, it's awesome that there's so much "stuff" out there. The colors are nice, but not necessary, except to make differentiation possible.

[Jakes Progress]

33. Dry your blanket. Space is beautiful.

Color and color perception is more complicated than whether photoshop is used. Beige, turquoise, green. They are all dependent on a variety of conditions. For a nice explanation see:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/color_universe_020625-1.html

However, I know space is beautiful because I gaze heavenward often. It is beauty to the eye, and it is beauty in concept and complexity. It's just too mind-blowing to be jaded or blase about.

[Towlie]

56. Just what I was thinking, ElboRuum. All we're seeing are stars with a fancy paint job, not nature.

[redqueen]

101. Yep.

And observing that fact is not unkind or horrible... it's just reminding people that there is natural... and there is enhanced.

[progressoid]

66. So beauty is limited to only the things we can see with our eyes?

What an awful concept.

[Towlie]

127. No, artificially enhanced images are not evidence that "space is a beautiful thing."

What an awful straw man.

[progressoid]

141. ElboRuum said ...

ElboRuum said , "space really ain't that beautiful. What you see published in most Hubble photos are color enhancements to bring out the detail of the structures of these objects. In reality, most things Hubble photographs are not nearly as vibrant as they appear after the color enhancement process."

I gather from this statement that A: Space is ugly. and B: We should disregard images that expand beyond our limited physical perceptions.

I disagree. A: Space isn't ugly, regardless of how it is represented.
B: We can't see in infrared, but can still find infrared photographs appealing. Nor can we see at an atomic level, yet we can marvel in our representations of it.




http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/size:large/view:main/2370574-2-dead-tree-infrared.jpg

[lunatica]

67. So Earth's beautiful colors are totally unique in the Universe?

I don't think so. Look at Jupiter



And Earth

[mvd]

121. K&R

Awe-inspiring pictures!

[Vickers]

68. I blame Ted Turner.

:P

[Lucian]

82. ...

:eyes:

There's always one.

[shireen]

131. images are taken using different filters

usually 2-3 filters, sometimes more. Each filter represents a specific wavelength range. An image taken using a specific filter is assigned a color that best represents the passband of that filter. Then, the images from different filters, each representing a color channel, are combined to create the color images. It may not be what the eye would directly see, but is otherwise a fair representation of the wavelengths emitted or reflected by the object.

[lunatica]

135. Thanks for your input! Space is full of color!

:bounce: :woohoo:

[havocmom]

143. Got to look at Orion Nebula through a BIG scope at U of Arizona once

It was pretty damned spectacular and there was some color, so yeah, space is amazing. But enhanced photos they are.

[doctor jazz]

6. Space isn't beautiful, it's not even visible. But the stuff that floats around in it is.

:D

[Bicoastal]

7. Makes you feel really huge and significant, doesn't it?

:P

[TahitiNut]

42. Yup. Imagine. G-d made ALL of that ...

... just for ME.

:dunce:

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

117. So Heaven is

in those photos.

They are beautiful btw.




1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven.

14 ¶ And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

[Towlie]

129. I love the "he made the stars also" part. Asimov called it "God's final adjustments to the sky."

The more you realize how incredibly huge the Universe is, the more ridiculous that old creation tale sounds.

[tridim]

11. Thanks for posting, I've never seen the last two pics.

[ThirdWorldJohn]

13. The Universe in perspective

http://digg.com/d1ofQT

A little bit daunting, for sure.

[readmoreoften]

31. And to think, the Lord Jesus made it all and put us at the center.

*cough cough*

[RedCappedBandit]

35. seriously

religion fails to have meaning when you look at the BIG picture

[customerserviceguy]

85. Actually, if you look over at the Freeptard board

they consider it evidence of their religion, and admire names like "Hand of God" and "Crown of Thorns". Then they go laugh at Latino people who see the Virgin Mary in window distortions.

[tridim]

97. I'm still baffled why gawd didn't even bother to mention anything about other galaxies..

in his book. He didn't even mention anything about other suns.

What a lazy dude.

[Towlie]

130. That's not His plan. God will never reveal anything to men that they don't already know.

In His infinite wisdom, He wants us to embrace the scientific method and eventually figure everything out for ourselves, including the fact of His own non-existence.

[RedCappedBandit]

34. holy shit

[Muttocracy]

49. WOW! that's a great teaching tool. nt

[nonconformist]

52. That is amazing!! I'm going to show my children.

Thanks for sharing.

[redqueen]

104. Animated:

[lunatica]

118. Great little animation

I assume the colors are just there to make them look different?

[Bill McBlueState]

151. for the most part, they're images of the sun

scaled and colored to resemble what we would expect the stars to look like from close up. The image of eta Carinae is real, though.

[D-Lee]

140. Thanks for this addition to this beautiful thread!

[Dangerously Amused]

107. Awesome! Bookmarking. Thanks.

[Faygo Kid]

109. Wow! This should be posted as its own thread.

Stunning. Made my Saturday.

[Soylent Brice]

14. these pictures are a reminder to me that

i truly don't belong on this planet.

[lunatica]

17. It sounds poetic, but yet it's true that

We're made of starstuff.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. and starstuff cannot be created or destroyed, just changes form.

ie: we are immortal.
My kids knew that at the youngest of ages. What a miracle.

I keep photos like this around to remind who I am...thank you so much for posting these. :hi:

[GKirk]

19. I'll bite...

...where do you belong?

[RedCappedBandit]

37. or maybe you really do

:p

[Uncle Joe]

15. Off to the greatest pages.

Thanks for the photos,lunatica.:)

[sarge43]

16. "My God. It's full of stars."

That last picture. It looks like a heart. :wow:

[lunatica]

18. It's a Supernova remnant

But yes, it does look like a heart

[sarge43]

20. What's going on in the photo just above?

Galaxies, novas ??

[lunatica]

24. I believe that's what remains when a star collapses in on itself and becomes a black hole

It shoots energy out of opposite sides.

[sarge43]

25. Stunning.

Thanks for posting these. The Hubble has given us treasure.

[geomon666]

113. That photo is of Menzel 3, a planetary nebula.

Also known as the Ant Nebula. It is not a black hole. There really is no solid explanation for it's current shape but there are a few theories.

[lunatica]

114. I think I read tha it seems to be an exploding star

And that astronomers are realizing that stars explode in very different ways.

[geomon666]

119. It could be.

There's not a lot known about that nebula yet. But I've always understood that for the most part stars have to be at a certain size for it to actually go nova.

[lunatica]

123. Astronomers say that sun is like ours

http://www.skyimagelab.com/deathofoursun.html

[geomon666]

125. I know.

What you're seeing in that photo is not an explosion. The central star has already swelled and then ejected it's mass into space. One of the theories behind why the nebula looks so unusual is that the central star might have a close companion and if that's true there is a possibility that the star could go nova eventually. It's dependent on a lot of different things.

Our sun won't go nova, or so they say.

[lunatica]

126. Thanks... your imput is much appreciated

[alfredo]

36. Do you know the name/number of that last one? I want to find one

image suitable for a desktop image.

the Heart Nebula




Looks CGI, but isn't
http://img.visualizeus.com/thumbs/08/10/02/nature,space,astro,galaxy,milkyway,outer_space,stars-ce5c209d7842cef2a1c5fa9932fe6f51_h.jpg

[lunatica]

38. Here's a link to photos and desktop images (enjoy!)

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/wallpaper/

[alfredo]

43. Beautiful, but still couldn't find that nebula. I went through the whole

collection.

I'm doing a Google search.

Meanwhile

[geomon666]

103. The last image is the supernova remnant N49. n/t

[alfredo]

115. Thank you!!!

[Towlie]

57. I call B.S. on the one you labeled "Looks CGI, but isn't."

http://img.visualizeus.com/thumbs/08/10/02/nature,space,astro,galaxy,milkyway,outer_space,stars-ce5c209d7842cef2a1c5fa9932fe6f51_h.jpg

Are you claiming that this is a real photo?

[alfredo]

80. I saw it first on APOD. link below

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080929.html

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2008 September 29



A True Image from False Kiva
Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (TWAN)
Explanation: Is there any place in the world you could see a sight like this? Yes! This digital mosaic shows the night sky as seen from False Kiva in Canyonlands National Park, eastern Utah, USA. Diving into the Earth far in the distance is part of the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. Much closer, the planet Jupiter is visible as the bright point just to band's left. Closer still are the park's picturesque buttes and mesas lit by a crescent moon. In the foreground is the cave housing a stone circle of unknown origin named False Kiva. The cave itself was briefly lit by flashlight during the exposure. Astrophotographer Wally Pacholka reports that getting to the cave was no easy trek. Also, mountain lions were a concern while waiting alone in the dark to record the mosaic.

[lunatica]

81. Wow! Just wow! This is a quote from the photographer

"...False Kiva is by far the most magical place I have ever been to and everyone that has been there says it is a hauntingly beautiful place lost in a time. Since the cave is so large, even with my 24mm lens I was not able to get the whole cave in view without doing a panoramic image with 4 shots. During the exposures the crescent Moon lit up the canyons and I artificially lit the inside of the cave. If the photo looks unreal, believe me that place looks like the most unreal scene time wrapped place I have ever been to. I have gotten unbelievably spooked at times being in there alone at night while I was just waiting for a mountain lion to return to its den!"

[alfredo]

112. A lot of spirits inhabit that land.

His site:

http://www.astropics.com/

check out his top ten photos

[PfcHammer]

120. Mad skills

[alfredo]

124. His site has images for sale.

[omega minimo]

21. What is the 4th one, the ring? Thanks for a beauty thread (that 6th one should pluck its brows)

;)

[lunatica]

23. LOL!

Good one! If you're gonna be a star then you best look like one!

[omega minimo]

28. ahahhhhahhahahahahaahahh touche!!

esp. if you rock the planet :hi:

[Jakes Progress]

27. The 4th is Messier 104 or the Sombrero Galaxy.

It lies some 50 million light years away, seen in our Virgo constellation. It likely contains more than 100 billion stars. At its center is a very massive black hole.

More info for the curious:

http://www.seds.org/MESSIER/m/m104.html

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/03/15/journey-inside-m104/

Beautiful, isn't it?

[omega minimo]

29. Thank you, so all that light is waiting to get swallowed up? Resembles the horus shape, eh?

thanks again

[Jakes Progress]

46. Actually,

the thinking now is that most, if not all, large galaxies have a black hole at the center. M104 just happens to be a very large one. We have one at the center of our own galaxy, just 26,000 light years away.

All this stuff just fascinates me.

[omega minimo]

116. Does the universe turn inside out?

[Jakes Progress]

138. Well, we think we know what goes in

a black hole. But what comes out or where or whether is fertile soil for conjecture.

[omega minimo]

142. My conjecture is the universe turns itself inside out

:hi:

[lunatica]

147. Do you mean something like these drawn graphics?

[omega minimo]

149. more like this

note seeds of light




isn't the Horus the term for the bagel looking universe? Couldn't find it......

[Skidmore]

26. What's going on in the next to the last one...the one that looks like

jellyfish mating?

[lunatica]

30. See post #24

[malaise]

32. Stunningly beautiful

Thanks

[HysteryDiagnosis]

39. I wonder how much energy it takes to get a galaxy spinning, and

I wonder where the energy comes from to do so.... curious.

[Number23]

40. Stunning. TERRIFYING. I love them

Lunatica, have you seen the Hubble photo of the supposed "Hand of God?" It's a good one to add to your collection:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/04/15/1894075.aspx

Thanks for posting these. Happy to rec

[Bill McBlueState]

44. that's a Chandra image, actually

Chandra is the X-ray version of Hubble.

Not trying to be pedantic -- just want to make sure everyone remembers *all* the space telescopes!

[Number23]

47. Thanks for the correction! Wherever it came from, it is creepy and beautiful.

[conscious evolution]

61. LOL! God vs FSM

Its the battle of armeggeddon!

[sarge43]

64. It's coming toward us and it's pissed. n/t

[Evoman]

69. Looks like god is scratches one of his orifices in that. Or pulling a goatse.

:hide:

[lunatica]

75. Goes with The Eye of God in the Helix Nebula

[azmouse]

87. The first time I saw that pic my jaw dropped.

Without a doubt one of the most awe inspiring pics I've ever had the pleasure to see.

[Towlie]

132. I like that one! Put it next to a horizontally flipped copy and you get this:

[TheBigotBasher]

137. Maybe that's why Rethugs think

that God is angry.

[OneBlueSky]

41. every time I see photos like this it reminds me of . . .

how much we humans DON'T know about the universe we live in . . . and it's mind-boggling . . .

[Arugula Latte]

95. Love the combination of your avatar, sigline and comment!

I was just at the renovated Academy of Sciences museum in San Francisco. They have a fabulous planetarium Omnimax show where you are taken from a journey from the museum itself and "fly" up over the planet, through the solar system, and then out into the cosmos. It truly is mind boggling, the unimaginable numbers of billions and billions (I sound like Carl Sagan) of planets and stars out there. The number in our one little galaxy alone is absolutely staggering. I think that's why I have a hard time with religion -- I see it as more than provincial, focusing on one tiny planet and an unimaginably small time period (two thousand years). Most humans don't want to step back and see themselves in the perspective of an incredibly, mindblowingly huge universe that has existed for billions of years where there are likely many, many planets harboring all sorts of life forms.

[Bill McBlueState]

45. This is why we have NASA, folks.

There aren't *too many* progressives who need convincing that NASA is worth funding, but just in case anyone like that is reading this thread, the space telescopes are an excellent reason for spending a little bit of our tax money on basic research.

[comrade snarky]

91. Exactly!

Photos of the Earth from space have fundamentally changed the way many of us view our world. A fragile blue and white sphere hanging in the vast emptiness. A world without human borders.
Without the space program I don't think we would have anything like the modern environmental movement.

Of course, these are way cool too.

[Kablooie]

50. Those are really beautiful ...

unless you think of them as something you see sitting in a toilet bowl.


(Ow! That hurts. Don't hit me again. -- Ow!)

[Control-Z]

51. Pic 5, with the ram/bull -

Intentionally made to look that way? Or is there really the gas/matter there to create that image (minus the the color, of course).

[WeDidIt]

53. Have you seen the "Cosmic Hand"?

[backwoodsbob]

54. the cloud pics amaze me

to think the universe is approx 15 billion years old and we have these clouds still forming stars.

[Echo In Light]

55. Recommended

[JNelson6563]

58. Extraordinary beauty.

Thanks for posting. :toast:

Julie

[lunatica]

59. It's a good reminder that we get too caught up in ugly stuff

I wish we were centuries ahead in space exploration...

[lunatica]

60. kick

[lonestarnot]

62. Whoa, way cool! Thanks for posting!

[Lyric]

63. Even God likes an occasional fist-bump.

:hi:

[lunatica]

65. .

[carlyhippy]

70. absolutely gorgeous!

I like the #5 one the best. Beautiful but still a mystery.

[WillyT]

71. Thank You !!! - K & R !!!

:yourock:

[lunatica]

111. Thanks

:hi:

[ensho]

72. wonderful, thank you

nt

[lunatica]

73. kick

[antimatter98]

74. How small we look in this sea. Right wing? Banks cheating people, war, etc. n/t

[Baclava]

76. I've always like the deep field pics

Where every speck of light is a galaxy.

Makes you realize how puny we are.

[TheBigotBasher]

106. Thta pic

reminds me of one of my favourite Youtube videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luAteAz3WQ0

[Jakes Progress]

110. I remember that.

I think it would be wonderful if you posted this as an OP. We need to have this perspective.

Thank you.

[Stainless]

77. Thanks for posting these images!

The next space shuttle mission is on the launch pad at this very moment, preparing to fly to the Hubble Telescope so the crew can perform major tune-up work for the last time. The next generation Telescope is the "James Webb" and the aerospace company I work for is producing some of the major structural components. We also produce the solid boosters for the shuttle and the next generation "Ares I" system. One of the perks of working for "ATK" is that employees are kept informed of upcoming space missions and the other myriad of NASA programs through links on the company intranet.

[lunatica]

78. I'm so glad you posted here!

Can you tell me how the James Webb is going to top the images of Hubble? I'm really curious. Will it be known as the Webb telescope or the James Webb?

[Stainless]

86. The James Webb Telescope

is scheduled to launch in 2013. The Hubble was launched in 1990 after being delayed several years by the Challenger failure. The James Webb or JWST will operate mostly in the infrared spectrum with some capability for operating in the visual range. According to NASA's website, the state of the art technology will allow us to look further back in time to the formation of the first galaxies!


http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/

[From The Ashes]

79. Here's another great website:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod

There's tons of pictures, updated daily.

[stuntcat]

90. ty!

That one's great too, thank you!

[Lucian]

83. K&R!

[stuntcat]

88. I downloaded that third picture the other day!

I've never seen some of these though.. like that last one! It looks like one of those deepsea glowing jellyfish, only much larger LOL

Thank you, I'm saving a couple more of these to my screensaver :headbang:

[lunatica]

92. Here's the index for the picture of the day from Nasa

Thanks From The Ashes!

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

I just downloaded a bunch of them to be on my desktop

[stuntcat]

100. I'm gonna start going through them too, TY!

My screensaver is a slideshow of nature pictures and animal pictures and space pictures. Sometimes I just watch the pictures change :dunce:

I can add some of these!

[Kajsa]

89. Thank you, Lunatica.

These photos are absolutely stunning!

:D

[lunatica]

93. Sure puts some perspective on our little squables doesn't it

[Kajsa]

102. It sure does!

I love the images from space.

Any one of them could be framed as
a work of art.

:)

[Arugula Latte]

94. Pictures like this showing the vastness of time and space make me wonder

how so many humans can be so "Earth centric" and focus on the last 2,000 years of human existence in their religion when it is hard to convey what a tiny, tiny, tiny fragment of a drop of water that is in the vast cosmic sea.

[lunatica]

96. More photos

[pleah]

98. K&R Amazing!

[lunatica]

99. The greatest light shows in existence

[lunatica]

105. kickety-kick

[BlooInBloo]

108. Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe....

... the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.

[wolfgangmo]

122. Great...

Now.


How do we get there?

[shireen]

128. it's really nice to see these comments

i've worked for the Hubble program for more than 20 years. It's very gratifying to see these comments. I'll pass them along to the people who create most of these images for public release, i'm sure they'll appreciate reading your comments.

[lunatica]

134. Please tell them their work is appreciated and that we're

probably a better world because of them! Or maybe they'll see it here!

Shireen, you guys rock! :hi: :loveya: :fistbump: :yourock: :applause: :patriot:

[walldude]

133. HArd to believe the government actually had a debate on whether or not

to repair the hubble. Idiots.

[LostInAnomie]

136. Yep, God really knew what he was doing when he made the universe 4000 years ago.

Hard to believe all that revolves around us.

[Baby Snooks]

145. Who's to say it doesn't?

Maybe it's a matter of perspective - we are on the inside looking out and you would have to be outside looking in in order to see what was revolving around what. It is so vast and so beautiful.

Hard not to believe in god. Just not the god of Abraham. The god of the ancient Africans perhaps. Where we began on this journey as Man.

[jeff30997]

146. ROFL !

So true ! And He did all that in 6 days !1!! No wonder He had to take a break the 7th day. :rofl:

[lunatica]

139. One more kick

[havocmom]

144. I'll kick this for ya!

Hubble is amazing.

[lunatica]

152. .

[jeff30997]

148. Fabulous !

Thanks for the pics.