Astronomy Picture of the Day

[Valden]

That picture is amazing.

Does anyone else here get the feeling of complete awe and possibly being made humbled whenever ya look at astronomy pictures such as the one in the OP?
I Just can't help but think "...Wow. My life on this tiny planet will have no effect on the Universe as a whole."

Absolutely, although my initial reaction is usually a much less sophisticated 'fucking hell'

That's good too.

[Meekychuppet]

I thought I was the only astronomer here.

Don't let Sciwoman see you say that.

O RLY? Is she a sky twitcher?

I have always enjoyed the Hourglass Nebula, the big beady eye in space:

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I thought I was the only astronomer here.

Don't let Sciwoman see you say that.

O RLY? Is she a sky twitcher?

She has her own scope, yes. Needs a new front lens. :sad:

[Meekychuppet]

I thought I was the only astronomer here.

Don't let Sciwoman see you say that.

O RLY? Is she a sky twitcher?

She has her own scope, yes. Needs a new front lens. :sad:

Cool. I've got 4 personally. Shame there aren't more astronomers around these parts.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I thought I was the only astronomer here.

Don't let Sciwoman see you say that.

O RLY? Is she a sky twitcher?

She has her own scope, yes. Needs a new front lens. :sad:

Cool. I've got 4 personally. Shame there aren't more astronomers around these parts.

Yeah, if we had some people with good equipment watching the sky we'd already have some quality pictures of them there UFO things.

[Koss]

Old thread is old, so this one is good.

So what's new over there? What's your favorites? Pillars of Creation and Eta Carina (sp?).

Check my avatar.

Linky?

APOD from January 11 last year. The Earth is actually in the picture too.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090111.html

I've had that for my desktop for a very long time, and actually as the background on my youtube page since I grabbed it from APOD. Truly one of my favorites of all time.

[Fact-Man]

This science forum needs an APOD thread! (Apologies if there already is one somewhere - I kept getting SQL errors when trying to search)

February 25, 2010:

Edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 891

Compare with M104 (NGC 4594) which looks to be a cross between a not quite edge on dusty spiral and an elliptical looking halo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:M104_ ... hi-res.jpg

The Sombrero galaxy has always been a fascinating piece of work to me.

Wiki:

The famous Sombrero galaxy (M104) is a bright nearby spiral galaxy. The prominent dust lane and halo of stars and globular clusters give this galaxy its name. Something very energetic is going on in the Sombrero's center, as much X-ray light has been detected from it. This X-ray emission coupled with unusually high central stellar velocities cause many astronomers to speculate that a black hole lies at the Sombrero's center - a black hole a billion times the mass of our Sun.

A unique and clear manifestation of the almost limitless possibilities for spinning things made of energy to organize themselves, appearing as delicate as a flower yet it's a vast body floating in a sea of empty black space, enormous beyond our real comprehension of scale. What incredible order! Elegantly ponderous.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Right click and view!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[Magicziggy]

Good thread to revive.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The most expensive meteorite pix you may ever see.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110730.html

[Gawdzilla Sama]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110725.html