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Coolest Space Science Images of 2001
Ant writes "The collective upward human gaze yields numerous special images of space
every year. Being a curious lot with a certain mastery of technology, we
keep looking deeper and with greater resolution at the most remarkable
features of the universe, near and far." Eye candy, desktop source material, and it'll make
ya feel insignificant too!
All the images I've seen so far are really small (course, if they were large, the site would probably be smoking by now)...
For the good stuff, try NASA.
I'm so glad they included a picture of it in the Top 10. Absolutely amazing to look at it.
Around here (Philadelphia), there was a lot of coverage of the storm, and the Franklin Institute (a "knowledgeum", for you Simpsons fans) had special exhibits all about it. Unfortunately, that coverage stopped completely a few days later when the attacks on 9/11 happened.
Glad to see I'm not the only who remembers that storm! And I thought sandstorms in the desert were bad...
this one?
This shot from space to earth is cool too.
In my view there are two groups of people: those who feel insignificant when confronted by the vastness of nature, and those who don't. Yes, the Universe is enormous, and yes, a 2000m high mountain takes hours to climb, and is huge, and has lasted for millenia. But who or what is more significant, the mountain or quasar that passively sits there, or the human being, aided by his mind and the products of other rational minds (technology) who can perceive or overcome nature? Thunderstorms are significant, but the ability to watch them from space and predict their path is more so. Mountains are impressive, but the ability to climb them aided by a few pounds of equipment is more so. Stars are huge and far away, but human technology and science can reduce them to pictures for your PC desktop. Who is more powerful than who in this case?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
For me, nothing compares to the Eagle Nebula (M16) pillars images. The fact that the universe contains things of such scale and beauty leaves me both wonderfully awestruck and horribly aware of our insignificance.
Please donate your spare CPU cycles to help fight cancer and other diseases
Those images are so small they can barely be icons on today's desktops! MMmmm, SVG icons...whoops, got distracted. Seriously, desktop wallpaper should be at least 1024x168, with 1600x1200 preferred. It's easy to scale down, but scaling up only happens in movies. (yeah, it pisses me off too)
is this article about? I can only scroll down, and my back button is broken. Please help me.
This is a completely irrelevant side note, but has anyone else noticed that Space.com's picture-presenting cgi feeds the caption in the URL? Silly way of doing things, but provides the opportunity for some fun.
Observe.
I had some really insightful comment about how space exploration has died, but IE ate it. So you get this instead :p
Merry Christmas.
That's no comet, it's the (very recent! or dust would've covered it up) impression of a Sasquastronaut's foot on Mars, decolorized and the surrounding terrain blacked out to perpetuate the Sasquatch-deniers' fraud. Yet more proof of the Sasquatch race, and they're technologically advanced to boot.
As you might expect, the coolest images of 2001 are not as cool as the coolest images of all time. Of these, my favorites are the Eagle nebula and the Hubble Deep Field.
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
This year's images are nice, but the one I like most is here:
For one thing, it could affect us directly... and some scenarios could make it an extinction event.
oh, what a cute little setup space.com has. all glorified and brushed up. bah! we're geeks, right? here's something far less propgandized; The Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive has hundreds of great pictures.
...and it has more than ten images!
One of my favorite ways to get good pictures is to search it for the word "nebula" ( click here )- it gives you a nice thumbnail index that I much prefre over that space.com "Image Viewer"
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
Not to toot my own horn, but here's a nice(in my opinion) extragalactic picture. I'm an undergrad and my lab group and I took these this past semester. The two images are of the same galaxy, just different contrast settings to hilight different features. If it weren't for the odd shape, they'd be good desktop pics. NGC 660
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Striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap, will be the leap ho
These images would look nice on a calendar, assuming they were blown up to the proper resolution/size. I wonder if we'll be able to get them on Thinkgeek anytime soon.
:).
I especially like the one with the huge solar flare
Things you think are in the Constitution, but are not.
That picture never got me. It's pretty, and it's interesting, but it fails me on the "insignificance" front--probably because it looks too sci-fi, too much like a painting. The universe I picture us buried alive in is way more spooky and empty and sad than that.
This photo's a decent evocation of it:
http://www.solarviews.com/r/uranus/uranus.jpg
[sorry 'bout the plain text, but I assume any "Uranus" href link is "goatse until proven innocent" in this age of reflexive crack-modding]
Your mouth is like Columbus Day.
It is an altered exaggeration of the original Viking version of the face.
Table-ized A.I.
If you like images of space and the universe check out the artwork by Greg Martin. Although they're rendered images, they're still spectacular.
Note the variable star to the far left of this animated gif.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011224.html
Maybe they will name it after me!
(Don't worry, its not a goat thingy)
Table-ized A.I.
Pictures of space will scare off women, and make your co-workers you're some sort of Star Trek idiot. On the other hand, if you have PROPAGANDA on your desktop, you're helping to promote Linux, women dig your style, and your co-workers will envy your desktop. Simple as that.
Cheers, and have a merry one,
Bowie J. Poag
x10.com is really punding my b*tthole... two ads on this page, I've really had it with them by now.
While the above images are cool, they don't fit the timeline and the latter image doesn't even fall into the category of "space image", ie. of an extraterrestrial nature. The story title is "Coolest Space Science Images Of 2001 ". The first image in the above comment is dated 1996 and the second is from 2000. We have also seen these images countless times.
How this got modded up as "Interesting", I'll never know.
ian, playing the part of The Grinch.
ian
Article: and it'll make ya feel insignificant too!
Insignificant to whom?
If it makes you feel insignificant, this means you're making yourself a reduced image of the Universe. In this reduced image you seem small. But that isn't the real size and significance of the Universe, nor is it your real size and significance.
Try to see the Universe as it really is, without reducing it. Try to see it with you as significant as you really are, and the Universe all the more immense and awesome.
I don't think anyone can fathom the Universe as it really is, but the attempt can be a wonderful experience.
The Universe is indeed vast and wondrous.
Terrorists can't threaten a country's freedom and democracy. Only lawmakers and voters can do that.
I agree. What a bunch of cocksucking motherfucking god damn jesus christ'n spammers.
[begin carnivore bait] I'm going to hi-jack a plane and bomb the whitehouse where those bloody afgans messed up. Bin Laden Rules!!! long live bin laden. Drugs cocaine bomb bombs nuclear plane flight hi-jack attack terrorist allah lord bush force anthrax [end carnivore bait]
Pop-ups and pop-unders and thousands of cookies...
Go to the source: antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
t_t_b
I'm on PJ's "enemies" list! Are you?
I think this says it nicely :)