Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Space Pictures From Near and Far

Posted by timothy on from the mostly-empty dept.

Buran writes: "The BBC News has a fine story about the how our galaxy looks from the outside according to the 2-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS). The article describes the shape of our galaxy (a barred spiral; all those books showing concept paintings of a regular spiral galaxy will be out of date now) and how the survey was done (near-infrared measurements of 500 million carbon stars). For the first time, we can see the center of our own Milky Way. All our worldly troubles seem so small..." That takes care of the big picture; Chris McKinstry has submitted news of much closer but just as exciting shots of Saturn -- read below for more on those.

mindpixel writes: "I was very excited when I saw this amazing shot of Saturn come up on the control room monitors of the VLT in November, and I'm even more excited that as of today the image is finally public. It is possibly the sharpest view of Saturn's ring system ever achieved from a ground-based observatory. All of us here at the observatory are quite proud of it, especially the NAOS-CONICA team."

5 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. The title of this article proves my theory. by Wakko+Warner · · Score: 5, Funny

    Had the title been simply "Pictures From Near And Far", nobody would read it. But, the addition of "Space" makes it infinitely more attractive.

    Try it. Space Ice Cream. Yum! Ice Cream. Boring. Space Frisbee! Exciting! Frisbee. Dull, lifeless. Space Herpes! Oh, wait...

    - A.P.

    --
    "Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
    1. Re:The title of this article proves my theory. by cburley · · Score: 5, Funny
      Try it. Space Ice Cream. Yum! Ice Cream.

      That's a poor example, because, in space, no-one can hear ice cream.

      ;-)

      --
      Practice random senselessness and act kind of beautiful.
    2. Re:The title of this article proves my theory. by daeley · · Score: 4, Funny

      The worst is when you get space herpes around Uranus.

      (sorry, couldn't resist)

      [ducking]

      --
      I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
    3. Re:The title of this article proves my theory. by delcielo · · Score: 3, Funny

      First it was the restaurant at the end of the universe, now it's the bar at the center of the galaxy.

      Urban sprawl is getting ridiculous.

      --
      Hot Damn! It's the Soggy Bottom Boys!
  2. For sale cheap: by 3prong · · Score: 5, Funny


    For sale: One novelty T-shirt, displaying the (formerly correct) image of the Milky Way, and the words "You Are Here" with arrow. Lightly used. Almost clean.