Hubble is 'sweet 16' - happy birthday

[ashburnskinsfan]

Hubble reached another milestone.

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=4191

The article has a neat new picture of exploding galaxy M82.

[rincewind]

I wonder if Chom is getting drunk for 'his' birthday?


:party:

[rictus58]

Nevermind. Not worth it.

[Bang]

Frankly, I hope they keep funding it. Discovery and exploration is important.
I know there's other things that can be said to be more important, but none of them are as cool as this thing.

~Bang

[gchwood]

I am glad that they finally got it working after its first like 5 years of being a giant piece of crap

[China]

This thread is worthless without pics. :)

http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/31/282/10x7/011012hubble_hits_01.jpg
Pillars of creation -Columns of cool hydrogen gas in the Eagle Nebula serve as the incubators for new stars - which look like tiny bubbles within the dark pillars.

http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/31/282/10x7/011012hubble_hits_02.jpg
Cosmic comets - In the left image, the Cartwheel Galaxy looks like a wagon wheel in space. A more detailed image of the galaxy"s hub shows bright, comet-like clouds circling at nearly 700,000 mph.


Link to more of Hubbles cool pics ('http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/31/282/ssMain.asp?fmt=Child','int675x520','width=675,heig ht=520')

[ashburnskinsfan]

This thread is worthless without pics. :)




Good point. The Hubble Deep field pictures send shivers down my spine. You can see thousands of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars, many of whom could host planets like ours with their own Hubble telescopes looking back at us. :cool:

A small image doesn't do it justice, so check out this link.

http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2004/07/images/m/formats/full_jpg.jpg

For religious and atheist alike, it's a numinous experience. :)

[Park City Skins]

Indeed. Got to have pics.

[China]

A couple more:

http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/31/282/10x7/011012hubble_hits_04.jpg
Ballooning star - Eta Carinae was the site of a giant outburst observed from Earth about 150 years ago, when it became one of the brightest stars in the southern sky. The star survived the explosion, which produced two billowing clouds of gas and dust.


http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/31/282/10x7/011012hubble_hits_06.jpg

Clouds of glory - HH 32 is an excellent example of a "Herbig-Haro object," which is formed when young stars eject jets of material back into interstellar space. The jets plow into the surrounding nebula, producing strong shock waves that heat the gas and cause it to glow in different colors.

[China]

Eye of heaven
This celestial object, with the scientific name MyCn18, looks like an eerie green eye staring out from two intersecting rings. But it"s actually an intricately shaped "hourglass" nebula with a star at its center.
http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/31/282/10x7/011012hubble_hits_07.jpg