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Hubble Takes Amazing New Images of Andromeda, Pillars of Creation
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in April, 1990. In 1995, it presented us with one of its most iconic images: a close-up of gas pillars in the Eagle Nebula, dubbed the "Pillars of Creation." Now, as HST approaches its 25th anniversary, astronomers have re-shot the pillars at a much higher resolution. Here are direct images links: visible light, comparison with old image, near-infrared light. "The infrared view transforms the pillars into eerie, wispy silhouettes seen against a background of myriad stars. That's because the infrared light penetrates much of the gas and dust, except for the densest regions of the pillars. Newborn stars can be seen hidden away inside the pillars."
That's not the only new image from Hubble today: NASA has also released the most high definition view of the Andromeda Galaxy that we've ever seen. Here's a web-friendly image, but that doesn't really do it justice. The full image is 69,536 px by 22,230 px. To see Andromeda in all its glory, visit the ESA's dedicated, zoomable site that contains all the image data. At the highest zoom levels, you can make out a mind-blowing number of individual stars. Andromeda is over 2 million light-years distant.
That's not the only new image from Hubble today: NASA has also released the most high definition view of the Andromeda Galaxy that we've ever seen. Here's a web-friendly image, but that doesn't really do it justice. The full image is 69,536 px by 22,230 px. To see Andromeda in all its glory, visit the ESA's dedicated, zoomable site that contains all the image data. At the highest zoom levels, you can make out a mind-blowing number of individual stars. Andromeda is over 2 million light-years distant.
Where can we download the full image ?
Hasn't changed much - not a single new star in all this time.
and apply it to the vagina.
What exactly do you expect to find down there ? Just curious.
On the pillars comparison image, if you cross your eyes to superimpose the old image over the new image you'll see a pretty cool 3D effect. Not sure if it's something in my imagination or if the stellar motion over 20 years gives us two slightly different view of the pillars to create a kind of stereo image.
http://www.spacetelescope.org/...
Are those stars or just noise? It's really hard to tell.
This image is so cool : http://hubblesite.org/newscent...
Robert Gendler's gallery is visible here
When I activate the flash item, I get the following error from Zoomify:
Error loading: Image path not in HTML or XML
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
These images demonstrate that the Hubble is a national (if not international) treasure. With two U.S. rockets soon capable of delivering astronauts to LEO, there must be some way to perform some type of minimal maintenance mission to the Hubble so it can continue its mission beyond the current EOL deadline. With no suitable visible light replacement telescope on the horizon, dumping the telescope into the ocean will be a crime. This would be a marvelous opportunity for someone like Elon Musk or the executives at Boeing to step up and lobby the government to be allowed to put together such a mission.
I can't tell for sure what I'm looking at on that zoomable site. Is each pixel of light a star or is that noise in the picture?
The g-spot
The g-spot
You don't need the Hubble technology for that. Just a pair of very fine hands.
...somewhere 2 million lightyears away in the Andromeda galaxy a nerd zooming into a similar high resolution image of the Milky Way galaxy, seeing a faint yellow smudge no larger than a pixel and wondering if it's a star or noise in the image.
The full image is 69,536 px by 22,230 px
Who said the megapixel war was over?
This seemed like a reasonable sig at the time.
Looks like the pillars have a leading edge with debris trailing off. What set something that massive, with that shape, in motion? And where is it going?
he'll be fine.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
The g-spot
You don't need the Hubble technology for that. Just a pair of very fine hands.
... and a woman. Aww yeah.
Am I the only one that sees firefox hiding in there?
...space is full of those freaking bastards.
Hubble is already 25+ year old
Sooner or later it'll have to be shut down
Has there been any plan to send up an even better replacement ?
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/01/image/
Looks like 3 bearded, cloaked figures at the "tips" of the columns in the infrared image.
I'm probably just weird.
you mean the pillars of creation are NOT those that hold up the texas state capitol building?
Did any of the people involved in the name read the Sword of Truth series?
Whats with the lens flare? These are not the actual images, or I should say, they are, but heavily retouched and effects 'added' to make them prettier to human beings.
Be nice to actually see the real images without the artist retouching and adding things like lense flare
You can download the full resolution image from NASA.
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/02/image/a/warn/
Average out the cost of designing, building and orbiting a newer, better Hubble across all the people in the world who have a few extra bucks and an appreciation of that iconic photo as art...worthwhile for no other reason than for us to stare at it and be profoundly moved.
I wonder how much it would cost each person to "git 'er done".
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Or is it too far from the Milky Way?
Pillars of Creation is getting set for a cropping, and the M31 mosaic is just too damn big for anything but zipping around with Preview.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
The cluster of very blue-white pixels and wire diffraction are clearly stars. If I zoom into a fairly dark region, I see lots of red and yellow pixels as well. Are those sensor noise?
I don't think the comparison image is from Hubble. It's got six spikes on the stars, Hubble only has four spider vanes.
Jewish scientist, maybe?
The stars you can see in the image are not actually INSIDE the nebula are they? They are simply background stars that you can see through the cloud, right? Just how big is this nebula? Is it bigger than our solar system? If it is, that is a lot of gas.
Why do all the cloud forms follow such a similar drift pattern? Is it the movement of the stars themselves within their local group? Is there something beyond the image forcing the wind direction (other massive stars and/or a supernova are mentioned in the Wikipedia article about the Pillars). Is there a count of how many stars are being formed here? The IR image suggests quite a few.
Stunning imagery. Keep 'em coming, Team Hubble!!!
This centuries motto wouldn't be a problem if idiots didn't expect us to Boldly Go - at Bargain Basement prices. And without losing any vehicles. And especially without loosing any lives.
Sounds like it could be a kickstarter project. But hold that thought.
The James Webb space telescope is scheduled for 2018 launch at the bargain price of only $8.8 billion.
The Webb's mirror is 6.4 meters across, compared to the Hubble's 2.4 meter diameter.
So roughly 32 square meters for the Webb vs. about 4.5 square meters for the Hubble.
Considering Nasa's usual tempo, another three years (2018) isn't all that long.
Very cool stuff. It is thinks like this that make me think the human race is more of a "glass half full" species.
Are the colours in pillars of creation visible and IR pictures "natural" or were they added in later? I don't know much about astronomy, but I thought that original images don't have much color and the bright colors are added in to make them prettier/easier to study. Am I wrong?