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!

Comments

Not Insignificant

[Gothmolly]

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?

Re:Not Insignificant

[ZPO]

Perhaps significant/insignificant is a bad term. I think a better thing to understand is our place in the universe and our importance to its function.

If the mountains were suddenly removed from the earth we would feel a great loss. If the sun suddenly went dark all human life would be extinguished.

If all of humanity were removed from the earth, the earth, much less the solar system or universe would never notice. The wind would still blow, rain would still fall, and all would continue.

Human civilization has existed for but a blink of an eye in the life of the universe. We have grown much and learned much, but we still have far to go in our understanding of the natural world and how to live in it.

Before his death Carl Sagan convinced the Voyager team to turn the cameras on earth for a last picture of home. In that picture earth is but a small point of light in the star field.

It matters not whether you believe the universe is the creation of physics or of a supreme being (or somewhere in between). The universe a palace of wonders. Perhaps the "significance" of the human race is that we can see all these things and at least attempt to understand them while still maintaining our sense of wonder. As long as that sense of wonder remains there is hope for the human race.

Desktop images??!?!

[benploni]

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)