Hubble Snaps Photo Of A Galaxy's Edge

Adam Attarian writes: "Some really cool stuff is coming out of that telescope in the sky. Take a look at this. That's Galaxy NGC 4013, as never seen before. CNN has the story here. Viewing the galaxy from the side showed a large density of intersteller dust, resulting in a large black lateral band. Quite the site!" This is an amazing picture.

Comments

Re:Okay, I've got a question

[Black Parrot]

> I saw some program on the Discovery Channel a while ago that new software in ground-based telescopes using adaptive optics allowed them to more or less completely filter out the effects of the atmosphere.

The March Scientific American had an article about interferometry in the visual spectrum, and by using it they're starting to get ground-based photos that resolve close binaries and even show the limb darkening on stellar disks. Cool stuff, and more on the way.

> Is it a PR thing, trying to justify the cost of a space telescope when the ground 'scopes actually do a better job now?

IANATelescopeEngineer, but it seems that the Hubble does still have an advantage in certain areas. For instance, the methods described in the article I mentioned above suffer because they can't collect very much light. Presumably the Hubble still has a slight edge in various aspects of telescopy.

Also, remember that ground-based telescopy has enjoyed a generation of progress since the Hubble was designed, so it stands to reason that the Hubble's advantages would be fading and will soon be cancelled altogether.

It's still giving the coolest pix, though.

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