Intriguing Facts and Pictures From Outer Space
Each time I try to imagine how vast and immense our universe really is, I cannot help but become speechless. If you feel the same way, then let’s feast on these photos from outer space. We may never achieve full conquest of the universe during this lifetime, but at least we can take a glimpse.
The Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own, the Milky Way. It’s only 2.5 million light years away. That means, if you travel towards Andromeda your entire life riding a spacecraft as fast as the speed of light, you won’t even get past 1% of the entire journey. Yup, it’s that near to planet Earth!
The Pillars Of Creation
This famous image from outer space has baffled astronomers and scientists since 1995. It is a large region of star formation found within the Eagle Nebula. It is called the “Pillars Of Creation”. What intrigues scientists is that the X-Ray sources gathered by the Hubble Telescope is not consistent with the images. In layman’s terms, the Pillars Of Creation has actually exploded 6,000 years ago. It is still visible through a telescope, but the light showing the slightest change to the shape and appearance of this nebula won’t reach Earth until 1,000 years later.
Supernova 1987-A
This interesting supernova caught the attention of scientists because of it’s three rings. Apparently, these are two gigantic stars who clashed into each other and caused a giant explosion many years ago. The light from this explosion first reached Earth in 1987, and until now, changes on this supernova are still being observed. We cannot blame the images for coming late. Supernova 1987-A is 51.4 kiloparsecs away from Earth. Imagine this. Just one (1) kiloparsec is approximately 31 Trillion kilometers. So until now, light rays from this supernova keep on coming to Earth and constantly captured by the Hubble Telescope, although the original explosion happened approximately 168,000 years ago!
Galaxy Cluster HCG-87
The galaxies in this “neighborhood of galaxies” seem like they are very near to each other. In reality, they are millions of light years apart! The cluster shown on the photo above is 4 Million light years away from our galaxy, the Milky Way. The spiral galaxy at the middle of this picture is more distant than any of the galaxies in this cluster.
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14 Responses to “Intriguing Facts and Pictures From Outer Space”
On April 2, 2009 at 10:00 am
I cant help but think…. “Space.. the final fronteir”..
On April 2, 2009 at 10:08 am
Pillars of Creation looks very surreal.
On April 2, 2009 at 11:29 am
Excellent! Great work! That was interesting and well presented article..lovely and informative too. I loved it! Keep it up. Well done and thanx for sharing..nice pics as well
On April 2, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Well researched ,amazing pictures.
On April 2, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Awesome article love the photos. I love looking at the stars at night. Science and space is one of my favorite subjects to read about or watch on t.v.
On April 2, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Nice Article Good Job keep writing stuff like this!
On April 3, 2009 at 11:34 am
very informative!
On April 3, 2009 at 8:22 pm
blows my mind away each time i try to envision or think about it, awesome pics too.
On April 4, 2009 at 11:02 am
I love the pics. The article… really informative. Thanks!
On April 5, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Love space, love these pictures and your commentary!
On April 6, 2009 at 6:42 am
Very beautiful and so well presented…
On April 15, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Interesting chatty dialouge with beautiful images.
Thanks – j
On June 18, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Awesome! I love it! I love thinking about the outer realms of space and the absence of time that exists there. I especially love the cluster of galaxies! Amazing! Thanks for sharing!
On October 6, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Thank you for allowing me to experience your presentation. Just think: One day the sun will destroy this part of the galaxy and the remains, our atoms and molecules (yours too) will began a journey across the universe, they will one day encounter a gravitational pull and….
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