Hubble's new glasses

Hubble\'s new glasses

Looks like the HST got a new camera put in. Now I'm jealous.

Check this picture out:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0205/tadpole_hst_big.jpg

I've been staring stupidly at the damn thing for the last hour, knowing full well that almost every little speck on the picture is a complete galaxy, and this field of view represents only a fraction of a thousanth of a percent of the visible sky. The Enterprise couldn't even get to the nearest one in humanity's lifetime, let alone the "primitive" hydrazine-propelled deep space probes we have to put up with today.

The red & orange spots in this picture are galaxies moving away from us at a substantial percentage of the speed of light. (look up 'galactic red shift' or 'red shift universe' on google if you don't quite get it).

Re: Hubble\'s new glasses

Neat pic!

It's about time they made those hyperspace-drives finally a reality...

Re: Hubble\'s new glasses

Thanks for my new desktop theme. How many light years across is that monster?

There is something about the sun herethat facinates me. I think this will be my next desktop.

Re: Hubble\'s new glasses

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by toby:
Thanks for my new desktop theme. How many light years across is that monster?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The tail is 280,000 light-years long. So the bulk of the galaxy itself is probably around 75,000-100,000 light-years across. It lies "only" about 420,000,000 light-years away from our star system. I bet Galileo didn't see that one in his little 20X or 30X telescope.

Re: Hubble\'s new glasses

Awesome pic!

Aloha

Re: Hubble\'s new glasses

Craig,

The first time I saw the rings of Saturn through a telescope in my school field... I was like, "That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"

Obviously, space is pretty huge. I mean with just the HST up there, we'll be seeing amazing images for decades to come.

Al