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Hubble Reveals Secrets of a Celestial 'Blob'

Posted by michael on from the piercing-the-darkness dept.

tewl writes "Saw this on http://cnn.org/2000/TECH/space/10/09/hubble.nursery/index.html The nebula N 81 earned its nickname of "The Blob" because few of its features can be discerned ground-based telescopes. But the space-based Hubble telescope has afforded a closer look, revealing a stellar nursery at work within its cloudy confines."

6 comments

  1. Hubble is fine and dandy but... by affegott · · Score: 2

    ...when are we going to see some telescopes on the moon? Now that would be neat! But first, we need to get people interested in the space program again... hmmm. Oh well, I just hate it when the coolest thing that humans do keeps getting less and less funding...

    Peace out.

    1. Re:Hubble is fine and dandy but... by tesserae · · Score: 1
      ...when are we going to see some telescopes on the moon?

      uh... when the Chinese get there?

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      Politics is about making compromises. Religion isn't. --Michael Horton

    2. Re:Hubble is fine and dandy but... by Crimplene+Prakman · · Score: 1

      I get the impression that UnitedStates.gov places less emphasis on something if it is not going to do something for their defense strategy.

      Back in the days when the Big Red USSR had plans and schemes and rockets and ICBMs and stuff, and was commie to boot, they were the heydays of NASA, Star Wars, etc.

      Now all we have is Saddam and a few ickle upstarts. It'll be interesting to see what happens when China gets a foothold in space (if such a thing is possible), that last big bastion of red-ity.

      /prak
      --
      We may be human, but we're still animals.

  2. Not to be too picky... by Vuarnet · · Score: 1

    or troll-ish... but exactly why did this story get posted to /.? I mean, this story, as far as I've seen, has nothing particularly new considering all that the Hubble has discovered / seen better / explained before.

    There's a ton of new stories waiting to be posted here. For instance, I particularly liked the one about N = NP and the supposed discovery of the Higgs particle. But this one? I failed to see anything novel. Just another case of "bigger telescope reveals more details of something seen a gazillion times before".

    In that same page, you can find out about NASA aborting Discovery's launch due to some equipment left on the pad. That's something to talk about, spending so much time and money preparing for the launch just to have it all come apart due to someone's carelessness.

    --
    Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I
    Learning to fly, Pink Floyd.
    1. Re:Not to be too picky... by Old+Wolf · · Score: 1

      Here's a clue for you, mate. If you don't like a story, DON'T READ IT. Especially if it's under the Science section as this one is, and not on the main page.

      This story talks about some astronomy that may be interesting to astronomy buffs. I am certainly glad that I read it. I don't give two fucks about the Red Hat stories that get posted on the main page, but you don't see me complaining, do you?

    2. Re:Not to be too picky... by tewl · · Score: 1

      Hahahaha, have to agree with you on that. Slashdot isn't supposed to cater to what everyone wants, there are different sections and the readers all have a wide variety of interests and opinions. When ever I see a red hat story my eyes glaze over, but I know that there are plenty of people that find it interesting...