Space and Terrestrial Images of our Universe

[rlb2]

I thought I would add to the success of posting images on this board to include Hubble and <br />other telescope type images to help further our understanding of our Universe. <br />Here is my first image from Hubble that I am posting. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Ron Bennett </div>

 

[rlb2]

Years ago I asked on this board:<br /><br />"When will we have sharp enough imagery to visually tell if another planet is orbiting one of our neighbor stars? <br /><br />Well it looks like we are getting close.<br /><br /><font color="orange">The resulting infrared images are the sharpest ever obtained of a circumstellar disk, with an angular resolution of 1/25 of an arcsecond, about 1/500,000 the diameter of the full moon. If a person's vision were as sharp as the Keck adaptive optics system, he would be able to read a magazine that was one mile away. In the case of AU Mic, the Keck images can see features as small as 0.4 Astronomical Units, less than half the distance from the Earth to the Sun. <br /><br />"It is remarkable how quickly Adaptive Optics at Keck has come from being an exotic demonstration technology to producing scientific results of unprecedented quality," said Dr. Frederic H. Chaffee, the director of the W. M. Keck Observatory. "We are entering a new age of high resolution imaging in astronomy. Dr. Liu's breathtaking images of possible planets in formation around AU Mic would have been unimaginable from any telescope -- space-based or on Earth -- a few short years ago. This is an exciting time for us all."<font color="white"><br /><br />http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=14812<br /><br />Here is the image they used from Keck of a neraby stars planet forming disk, 33 light years away, that claims to be the first to do this. <br /><br />Kudos to the University of Hawaii for starting this quest with some encouraging results. This was made possible because of the advancement in adaptive optics.<br /></font></font> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Ron Bennett </div>

 

[rlb2]

Here is another view with a darker look at what appears to be a void space on the outer disk. Its important to note that the real proof wouldn't be from what we visually see but from independently examining of the individual pixels for light intensity and wavelength. <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Ron Bennett </div>

 

[rlb2]

We may be able to stretch what they found from observing a solar system forming dust cloud with good enough optics. I would think that we should be able to observe the individual pixel from sharp images of nearby stars by examining their intensity and location relative to the light being capture by the telescope of the object orbiting the nearby star over time.<br /><br />Check out the to-scale pixel image of the released Keck image at the bottom right of this image. Now if they can observe this over time by examining the intensity of the individual pixels they may be able to get more information about the planet.<br /><br /><font color="yellow">If we go from space.com past experience these images will not be posted for at least two days since it is approaching the weekend.<br /></font> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Ron Bennett </div>

 

[rlb2]

Here is another view of the above post. <br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Ron Bennett </div>

 

[rlb2]

Here is a recent image by Chandry - super-hot gas clouds merging. <br /><br />[0range]Chandra's image of the galaxy cluster Abell 2125 reveals a complex of several <br />massive multimillion-degree-Celsius gas clouds in the process of merging. Ten of the <br />point-like sources are associated with galaxies in the cluster, and the rest are probably <br />distant background galaxies. The small bright feature in the extreme lower right-hand <br />corner is probably a background galaxy cluster not associated with Abell 2125.<font color="white"><br /><br />http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/a2125/<br /></font> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Ron Bennett </div>

 

[rlb2]

Here is a smaller version of the above image. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Ron Bennett </div>

 

[btimsah]

Here's one of my favorite places, the Asteroid Eros!<br /><br />

 

[rlb2]

<font color="orange">Washington, DC -- The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) is a challenging stargazing target for amateur<br /> astronomers. It is one of the closest planetary nebulas -- a type of nebula formed from gas ejected by<br /> a dying sunlike star. Yet it is so large and spread out in the sky that it appears very dim in a telescope <br />eyepiece. Long-exposure photographs unveil the true beauty of this celestial wonder. A new portrait of the<br /> Helix Nebula, created by the penetrating infrared gaze of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, is being released<br /> today at the 207th meeting of the American Astronomical Society. <br /><br />Although named for its resemblance to a coiling spiral seen face on, the Helix Nebula has a more complex<br /> three-dimensional structure. Previous studies showed that it consists of two gaseous disks nearly <br />perpendicular to each other. Observers on Earth view the main disk nearly face on, making it appear more<br /> ring-shaped. <br /><br /><font color="yellow">In the eye of the beholder<br /><br />http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18681<br /></font></font> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Ron Bennett </div>

 

[rlb2]

<font color="orange">Appearing like a winged fairy-tale creature poised on a pedestal, this object is actually a billowing<br /> tower of cold gas and dust rising from a stellar nursery called the Eagle Nebula. The soaring tower is 9.5<br /> light-years or about 90 trillion kilometres high, about twice the distance from our Sun to the next nearest star.<br /><br />Stars in the Eagle Nebula are born in clouds of cold hydrogen gas that reside in chaotic neighbourhoods,<br /> where energy from young stars sculpts fantasy-like landscapes in the gas. The tower may be a giant<br /> incubator for those newborn stars. A torrent of ultraviolet light from a band of massive, hot, young<br /> stars [off the top of the image] is eroding the pillar. <br /><br />http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/html/heic0506b.html<br /></font> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Ron Bennett </div>

 

[dark_energy]

This is my favourite image from the Hubble. Absolutely gorgeous. I first saw this image when I was 5 or 6. It still inspires me and fills me with awe. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[rlb2]

<font color="orange">This is my favourite image from the Hubble. Absolutely gorgeous.<font color="white"><br /><br />That was one of my favorites too. An image of a star forming Eagle Nebula (M16) in my older sisters science book<br /> in the mid 60th's got me interested in science at a very young age . <br /><br />Here is Hubbles image of it.</font></font> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Ron Bennett </div>