The Heavenly Van Gogh

This image is of Supergiant Star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon).  It was taken by Hubble in 2002 when the star emitted a pulse of light or energy.  The Hubble website makes the comparison of this beautiful “light echo” to the work of Vincent Van Gogh.  The halo, or dust, is illuminated by the star, which is the red center. 

Its beautiful swirls and tidal-like movements are as vibrant as any space photograph I have ever seen.  It is something close to a magical and unbelievable view into a different time and place.  A place we can never see with our own retinas, but a place we can interpret and imagine from the lens of Hubble.  A place of imagination and opportunity.  A place for our hopes and amazements.  But more importantly a vision of the future and humanities march forward, which is summoned by our ability to capture such an image.     

The Hubble website description is here.

Hubble Images: Sombrero Galaxy (M104)

Every so often I find an image so beautiful and thought provoking I want, almost need, to share it.  This image of the Sombrero Galaxy taken with the Hubble Space Telescope is one of those images.  It is listed as M104, and this image, which is actually a composite of six images, was taken May to June 2003.

The Sombrero Galaxy is visible from the surface of Earth with a small telescope—although nothing so vivid as the Hubble image.  It is 28 million light years from Earth, and 50,000 light years across.  Its beautiful shimmer is a reminder of the majesty, and magic, of our universe. 

Hubble Image: The Eagle Has Risen

This spectacular image of a stellar spire in the Eagle Nebula was taken by Hubble.  Its beauty is stunning; the flagrant use of color, shadow and light creates an image that is more question than answer.  It lingers on the screen in a splatter of uneasy form.  It speaks to the wonder that is the universe, and somehow, it brings a connection of both time and distance.  It relates both near and far, the universe and humanity in a mosaic of pixels.  It is real and unreal at once.  It truly is beauty.

The NASA website states the following:

“Appearing like a winged fairy-tale creature poised on a pedestal, this object is actually a billowing tower of cold gas and dust rising from a stellar nursery called the Eagle Nebula. The soaring tower is 9.5 light-years or about 57 trillion miles high, about twice the distance from our Sun to the next nearest star.

“Stars in the Eagle Nebula are born in clouds of cold hydrogen gas that reside in chaotic neighborhoods, where energy from young stars sculpts fantasy-like landscapes in the gas. The tower may be a giant incubator for those newborn stars. A torrent of ultraviolet light from a band of massive, hot, young stars [off the top of the image] is eroding the pillar.”

For the rest of the story click here.
 

Hubble Space Images: Deep Space

I often lose myself on the NASA website browsing Hubble and other space images. The images capture my imagination and wonder. They remind me how vast and beautiful both the universe and our place in it is. The images also remind me how much I enjoyed science fiction as a kid. I read Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson, John Brunner, Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, and many, many others.

I don't read science fiction as much as I once did, but the Hubble images remind why I did and still do. It's the vision of beauty and hope much of the genre provides, but more importantly it is the vastness of wonder and knowledge. The adventure and the grandness that humanity can accomplish.

Here are a few of the photographs that caught my attention. I hope you enjoy each as much as I do.

Supernova 199D Galaxy NGC 4526


Spiral Galaxy Hubble Utlra Deep Field


Spiral Galaxy M100


Close-up of Galaxies from Hubble Ultra Deep Field


NGC 3021

Hubble Space Photos: Saturn

I enjoy the beautiful images the Hubble Space Telescope captures. It is the art of the natural world captured without the filter of our own atmosphere. The beauty is monumental and something that past generations were unable to enjoy. It makes me feel the wonder an awe of a child.

It's interesting that as our own world gets smaller and smaller the Universe gets larger and larger. There is so much out there that we have yet to discover let alone understand that it is inspiring and slightly frightening at the same time. Here are a few images of Saturn. A planet that isn't so far away and during the summer months can often be seen Southern sky. But nothing like this...

Infrared view of Saturn.


Saturn's moons.


The black spot at bottom-left is Titan's shadow.


Saturn.


These photographs are credited to: NASA, ESA and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona). You can view many Hubble Space images at the official NASA website Here. All are in the public domain.

Hubble Space Images: Uranus

It has been awhile since I have posted any Hubble Telescope photographs. Too long, in my mind. I love looking at the beauty that Hubble captures in the cosmos. The distant galaxies, nebulas, stars, universes, and even the less exotic images from our own solar system. Today my imagination was captured by the cold beauty of Uranus. It is the seventh planet from the sun, and its blue texture is captivating and lights my imagination with the dreams and visions of Arthur C. Clark, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and the other great hard science fiction writers. It is truly beautiful. And now I will let the photographs speak for themselves...

Uranus with its rings visible

Uranus and its dark spot

Uranus and one of its five major moons Ariel

Bright Clouds and Uranus

Hubble Space Images: Nebulas

I recieved an email recently from a regular reader, or so I presume, who asked me why I don't follow a more usual pattern of reviews, book-talk, etc. My answer: I post what I enjoy, and while I do enjoy the world of fiction--both novels and film--I also enjoy a few other things. And looking at photographs of space objects is one of my favorite things; actually now that I think about it, looking at photographs of darn near anything is one of my favorite things.

So here are a few photographs I found on the Hubble Space Telescope website. This time I chose four of my favorites from their Nebulae section.

This first photograph is titled: Stellar "Eggs" Emerge from Molecular Cloud: Closeup of Evaporating Globules in M16



This one is titled: Star-Birth Clouds in M16: Stellar "Eggs" Emerge from Molecular Cloud. And my only thought is wow!




This is the Reflection Nebula NGC 1999.




This is the The Bubble Nebula NGC 7635. This one reminds of a special effects for Star Trek--can't you nearly see The Enterprise making ts way through this beautiful place?

To visit the Hubble photo gallery click Here.

Hubble Space Images: Galaxies

I'm a geek. I love to surf through the NASA website and look at all the cool images they have posted. They have photographs of astronauts, space vehicles, stars, and even our own planet. It is just about the coolest place I can think of going on the Internet, and I wanted to share a few images of our neighboring galaxies as taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

I'm about as far from an astronomer as a human can be, and still be alive, but these are absolutely beautiful and I certainly don't need a description of what they are, or where they are to enjoy them. I hope you feel the same way.

This is the ESO 510-G13 Galaxy. It is described by the Hubble website as a "warped" galaxy taken at an "edge-on" angel.




This one has an outrageously cool name: Hoag's Object Galaxy. It is described as: ring of hot blue stars pinwheel around [the] yellow nucleus.

This is the NGC 5866 Galaxy.

This one is NGC 1512 in near-ultraviolet light.

To visit the official Hubble website click Here.