While the rest of the blog world is obsessed with what President Obama WILL SAY, WILL NOT SAY or are presumptuous and insist on what he MUST SAY, I will opt to wait for what the president DOES SAY. My only recommendation is to judge what the president says by your own brain not some pundit’s brain.

Until then enjoy these latest images from the Hubble after the last mission to refurbish the historic telescope.

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Carina Nebula

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Soap Bubble Nebula

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Active Super Massive Black Hole at Center of Galaxy

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Planetary Nebula Kohoutek 4-55

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Most distant stellar Explosion viewed by humankind.  The Universe was only 650 millions years old.

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When Galaxies Collide.  One day our galaxy will collide with the Andromeda Galaxy.  But humankind will be long gone.

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Close up of Jupiter’s Red Spot and Surrounding Storms

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Planetary Nebula 10,000 Light Years Away

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Two of the Galaxies Largest Stars

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A Galaxy Cluster that Creates Stars at Twice the Rate of Most Galaxy Because of Enormous Gravitational Forces

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A dust ring, seen in red, surrounds the star Fomalhaut.  The bright dot in the lower left quadrant is a far off planet seen for the first time called Fomalhaut b.

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Ribbon-like Remnant of a Super Nova about 1,000 Years Old

Click on Link to See All the Images Released with more Detailed Descriptions

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bito
Member

I watched some of the last shuttle “work” on the web @ NASA tv. When things got dull I looked at some of these pics. Simply Fascinating!
When I was a youngster I learned that the star in Orion’s belt was a galaxy larger than the milky way.I was never “positive” about anything since then. 😉

Mogamboguru
Member

To boldly go, where no man has gone before!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdjL8WXjlGI

Star Trek Original Series Intro

(I just couldn’t resist…) 🙂

escribacat
Member

Gorgeous pix, Kquark. Nothing like a little dose of reality — how tiny and insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things. Yet, it doesn’t matter either. It’s not a depressing feelings — it’s a sense of awe.

The Jupiter red spot looks like a Van Gogh painting.

Mogamboguru
Member

And here is one to twist your brain.

KQuark (Who else…? 😉 ) wrote:

“Most distant stellar Explosion viewed by humankind. The Universe was only 650 millions years old.”

Okay: So this was 13 billion years ago – which means, that this explosion happened 13 billion lightyears away.

But that means, that WE must have travelled 13 billion years at the speed of light, to be so far away from this spot now, right?

But matter cannot travel at the speed of light, scientists insist. So they claim, that space itself is expanding, instead of the matter travelling in it – which in turn again means, that space must expand at the speed of light, to achieve that.

This would mean the following:

a. Light travelling behind us, while space is expanding at the speed of light, could never reach us, as it would never be fast enough to reach us. So how can we watch this explosion?

But also

b. it would mean, that all stars and matter in our closest vicinity would have to fly away from us at the speed of light, too, so as to follow the scientists’ rule, that space is expanding at the rate neccessary to do, what scientists demand from it, to allow their idea of an expanding space come true at all – which would in turn mean, that we weren’t able to see a single star around us, because thwey were all travelling away from us at the speed of light.

But space obviously doesn’t do that – as the stars we can see in our own Galaxy, the Milky Way, as well as the other Galaxies around us indicate, which we can still see, and which quite obviously DON’T fly away from us at the speed of light, but either stay in the same distance or even constantly come closer to us, like the Andromeda-Galaxy (as mentioned above).

But, this is only the beginning.

Because, to make things worse, there are scientists, who have proven beyond any doubt, that travel faster than the speed of light IS possible:

“Duo Claims Light Speed Broken”

“G

bito
Member

It was this type of thing that made me study liberal arts. 🙂

Mogamboguru
Member

🙂

bito
Member

Mo, Here’s a little quiz for you.
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/Sea_Level_Quiz/

Pepe Lepew
Member

Wow!
Supermassive black holes are fascinating.

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

Kquark, these are just beautiful, thank you for putting things into perspective for us, the voice of reason as usual.

nellie
Member

KQuark, these are spectacular! Thanks so much for posting. Do you know what causes the bubble effect in the Bubble Nebula? Photos from space are always breathtaking — the variety of formations and colors.

Is it me, or does Carina look like she’s giving us the finger…

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

My, my, I think she is! Don’t really blame her though…

nicole473
Member

KQ, thanks so much for posting this! I love the images, and am always fascinated by this kind of stuff!!

Athena
Member
Athena

Looking at the images from the vast universe, the thought occurs that there must be many, many instances of “life”. How could we be the only planet where life forms have evolved? Will we ever connect? Earth will exist only until our sun burns out, but that is millions of years in the future. What will our species be like in two million years? We can be certain that the most intelligent life forms on other planets may be similar to Earth’s octopus, or snail, or tree frogs. (I have this feeling the chances of our neighbors out in the universe looking like us is the most unlikely factor). Anyway, always nice to contemplate the cosmos.

escribacat
Member

I can’t imagine that we’d be the only form of “intelligent” life in the vast universe. If we are, then how terribly lonely for us.

DCTVixen
Member

Those images are so beautiful that I feel like crying. lol.

The thought of a world without humans sort of freaks me out too. Although I know I won’t be here when it happens, it still is a melancholy feeling.

tyler-durden
Member

thx for posting these, KQ.

when i look at astronomical phenomena like these, i immediately think of how small we are. we really are running around on this minuscule ball of dirt like ants. it’s sad that we are the only species that really has a concept of the bigger picture, yet we still, as a whole, waste our time pursuing power, trying to control each other, and wasting what little time we have to exist.

it makes me sad that even in the 21st c. we are no closer to civility than when humanity took its first steps on this planet.

i am glad that at least some of us can look away from the madness for a little while, to gaze upon the heavens and renew our hope.

escribacat
Member

Well said, tyler.

AdLib
Admin

KQuark, I don’t know what they’re paying you here but whatever it is, they should double it!

I LOVE THESE PHOTOS! Really astounding visions of the violent yet beautiful universe around us.

By the way, as you’re a scientist you can help me with this…what’s the number zero doubled?

You rock KQ!

Kalima
Admin

I am here among friends, my rising star is Venus, I will love or hate you until the day I die. Taurus with rising Venus, don’t mess with my load. 🙂

nellie
Member

I know about you Taurus types — tread carefully and always bring the common sense! You will be rewarded with fierce loyalty and affection.

VegasBabe
Member

Kquark those pics are absolutely awesome…I lov’em. Thank you bunches for sharing. And I’m with you! Think I will try to just wait and hear wassup from the POTUS before commenting.