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: 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.