Hubble celebrates 15 years of stellar images

[Ripley]

The Hubble Space Telescope has taken about 750,000 images in its 15 years in space. Celebrating the launch on April 24, 1990, Hubble officials released two more pretty pictures on Friday.

While Hubble's future is uncertain, its capabilities are unquestioned as the sharp-eyed observatory continues to produce stunning photographs of faraway places.



Among Hubble's greatest achievements is an ongoing set of observations of supernovas that shows the universe is not just expanding, but doing so at an ever-increasing pace. The blockbuster finding means something called dark energy, which scientists know almost nothing about, is working against gravity -- and winning.

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Hubble is a joint project between the European Space Agency and NASA. The observatory may be on its last legs. NASA currently has no plans to service the telescope a fifth time. Meanwhile, with its batteries and gyroscopes wearing out, the telescope will likely stop taking pictures in 2007 or 2008.

Maybe the Europeans or Japanese will mount a mission to save it. **crosses fingers**

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/04/25/hubble.pics/index.html

[shoelace414]

1. best hubble pic ever

[Ripley]

2. When I look at that I think to myself...

"I am so tiny and insignificant in the face of that!!" Yet some religious people I know say "Oh I feel just the opposite. It makes me feel so blessed and special in the universe."

I don't get it.

[shoelace414]

6. I think they took that pic by

pointing to a fraction of an arc second and leaving the shutter open for days.

So god made all this and made it so far away that it can't even be seen for 6 thousand years.

[central scrutinizer]

8. didn't Carl Sagan say

something like: "When you look at the vastness of the universe, consider two possibilities: either humans are alone or they are not. Either possibility is mind-boggling."

[ozone_man]

7. That's my favorite too.

A mindboggling number of galaxies, reaching back to the beginning of time.

[manly]

11. best hubble pic?

What makes this pic so great? Please explain it to me. To my completely untutored eye it just looks like a new linoleum pattern. I'm not poking fun, I'd really like to know what it's about. Thanks in advance for your explanation. Remember, keep it simple for me, please. Thanks.
rww

[shoelace414]

12. If I Recall Correctly

take a grain of rice, hold it at arms length with the sky as the backround, that is how much of the sky that is a picture of.

every dot on that picture is one galaxy. each galaxy is billions of stars.. the number of stars on that picture which is such a small part of the sky is just... mind.... boggling...

they left open the shutter days to get that picture.

[manly]

14. hubba-hubble

Thanks. That really is fantastic!

[Stinky The Clown]

3. If the bushies have their way, what with their hate for science .....

buhbye Hubble .....

[Ripley]

4. The thing is they haven't figured out a way to turn HST into a

gigantic Deathray machine. Plus it doesn't show the pearly gates.

[rwork]

5. Ripley

I love the Hubble deep space pix's. Is that a Mayan temple? Can you tell us more about it?

[Ripley]

9. Yes, that is the Mayan Temple of the Warriors.

I took the pic recently on a trip to the Yucatan. I climbed the steep steps to the the top of the Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza to snap it. A very cool place! They also have an observatory there where the Mayans/Toltecs were able to identify all of the planets in our solar system with their naked eyes back around 900-1100 AD.



Of course that's just the archaeologist's interpretation...we all know the space aliens actually built the pyramids and had sophisticated telescopes they gave to those bestial, barbaric blood thirsty Mayan people. :eyes:

[shoelace414]

13. Question

They also have an observatory there where the Mayans/Toltecs were able to identify all of the planets in our solar system with their naked eyes back around 900-1100 AD.

I know there's no way they found Pluto, so did they find eight planets?

[Ripley]

15. You're probably right about Pluto and maybe Neptune.

I honestly don't know exactly how many they documented. However they were very accurate in documenting Venus...

...the Maya noted the amount of time necessary for Venus and Earth to arrive in same position and the amount of time necessary for Earth, Venus, the sun and the stars to line up in the same position. The Maya documented the first count accurately as a 584 day cycle and the second count as five repetitions of this cycle, or 2,920 days. This second count, far more complex than the first, was off by only two days.

[LisaL]

16. Poor Hubble is as good as gone.

[kineneb]

10. I love the Hubble photos

I have several as wallpaper on my computer. Tends to put things in perspective...

"Space is big, really big."
-Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
(RIP, Douglas Adams)