My God, this is beautiful!

[LongTomH]

The was The Astronomy Picture of the Day for yesterday, Nov 18:

[mr_hat]

1. It's not how we'd see it with our eyes, though. nt

[AlecBGreen]

14. derp

[tavalon]

15. It's how we see with the eyes we sent out there

It's gorgeous.

[LukeFL]

38. +100

[SemperEadem]

16. there is always that one person in every thread

who has to bring the party down.

NO DUH IT'S NOT HOW WE'D SEE IT WITH OUR EYES! Gee, Captain Obvious, we never thought of that.

[AlbertCat]

36. It's not how we'd see it with our eyes, though.

Why do you say that? It's a Hubble pic of the visible spectrum, not a composite of xray or ultraviolet or gamma ray images given false color. It's just the light that fell on the Hubble mirror. So if we could get close enough, we would see it with our eyes just like this.

[D Gary Grady]

55. Too dim

The problem isn't our location but our eyes' sensitivity to light. On the next clear night go out and look at the constellation Orion. It's full of glorious nebulae plenty big enough to see with our eyes, but you need at least binoculars or a small telescope to see how glorious they look, not because of magnification but to gather more light. (And to see them in all their glory you really need a time exposure.) Or look at Andromeda on the side toward Pegasus: The great Andromeda Galaxy is five times the width of the full moon, but all we can see with our eyes is a dim impression of the central bulge. For that matter, in most cities the milky way is too dim to see, but go someplace dark with a camera, a tripod, and a wide-angle lens, and shoot a time exposure. Wow! I'm sure the original poster wasn't being a downer, just informative.

[GeorgeGist]

56. Derp II

[D Gary Grady]

57. I guess to some, science is just too boring

But some of us like to celebrate how our knowledge lets us go beyond what would otherwise be our limitations to see all that wondrous beauty. In fact, we're right now building instruments to see even more of nature's grandeur. But hey, George, if you think that's booooring, that's OK!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

82. Oh fuck! Please tell me how to imbed that in an email!

[AlbertCat]

58. I'm sure the original poster wasn't being a downer, just informative.

They never said anything about seeing it from earth. I mean, I know it's too dim to see with the naked eye from Earth..I'm not that dim.

But if you were in the right place... it would look like this, with your eyes.

[D Gary Grady]

61. Actually, it would be diim even if you were close

Extended objects such as nebulae don't look dimmer because they're farther away. There's less total light, but it's concentrated on a smaller area of the retina, and the two effects exactly cancel out. I'll try to find time to post a detailed explanation on my blog (the address is my name with .com on the end and the spaces squeezed out) by tomorrow, in case anybody cares.

From Earth, this nebula (NGC 6357) fills a piece of our sky several times as large as the full moon. There are other nebulae even larger from our point of view, and I've long lamented that we don't have lemur eyes to better appreciate them. This photograph is beautiful because it's a time exposure captured with a large-objective telescope; our scientific instruments extend our ability to appreciate nature's glorious beauty, and I don't see how that's a downer for anybody!

[shireen]

63. +1

a fellow astronomy fan. Welcome to DU!

[pangaia]

65. Thanks for the good explanation....really fascinating.

Many years ago I spent not enough evenings with Carl Sagan and a few others hangin' in a Japanese Restaurant in Ithaca.. just listening.. listening... what a joy that was.

[Diclotican]

80. pangaia

pangaia

I evy you to have had the possibility to be together with Carl Sagan.. He was a great astronomer - and a man who also could explain some of the mysteries of the stars - to a 8 year old child with a fascination for the stars... I also saw the Cosmos series who I had to beg and beg to be allowed to se - as I was just 8 and the series was aired late, often on a school night... My fasination for all things in the universe I belive started with Cosmos (the book) and the series - and even though Im little less interesting in the stars today than I was when I was 8 - Im still interested in the stars - and I for one envy the ones who in the future wil be able to travel to the stars - and look at the all for themself... We are just standing at the shores - and looking out of the universe, wondering what is out there - to paraphrase Carl Sagan...

It just must have been a joy to be able to listen to that man for hours at the time.. I hope he was a interesting man to listen to...

Diclotican

[pangaia]

83. I was in my 30s and teaching at Ithaca College.

Also a little at Cornell.

I was friends with the owner and family of the restaurant and hung out there a lot in the evenings..washed rice, dishes to help out sometimes, learning to cook Japanese cuisine, make sushi, baby---sat his kids, and drank a LOT of sake !
Sometimes Carl would come in for dinner, and he, the owner, other friends and I would just hang until the wee hours and close the place...usually when the owner was under the table.

Yes, Sagan was a special person...I was really lucky..

[Diclotican]

84. pangaia

pangaia

Interesting.. Both that you helped out a little - was drinking a lot of sake .. And sometimes you even got Carl Sagan into the restaurant for some dinner - and that it was no set closing hours - so you could just sit there and hang out to the wee hours now and then...

Yeah - it is often time to close when the owner was under the table - the show is often closed when that happened .. But often you can have a lot of fun in the meantime..

You was lucky - he was one of the persons I would just have loved to get to know - if just for a little while talking to him.. He was one of my "heroes" when I was little - and I think I was reading most of his books - when kids my own age still was reading everything else than that stuff... Yeah I know I was, and maybe still is little nerdy

Diocletian

[bigtree]

73. you did great, Grady

thanks for the info. Make the pic even more interesting, imo.

[loudsue]

75. Thanks, Grady! That was really interesting.

And WELCOME to DU!

[Auntie Bush]

39. Are you from the Cat in the Hat? You sound like it!

[GiveMeFreedom]

69. No offense intended

I see the photo just fine. Thank god. If I had to use my imagination, to visualize in my mind's eye, what astronomers try to explain to lay man, my universe would look like the inside of my closet, dark and small.

[Bradical79]

86. So what? The same can be said about most mundane earthly photographs too. -nt

[snagglepuss]

2. It's hard to believe it's real. Completely awesome. Thanks.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

3. That's just gorgeous. Thanks! n/t

[TheDebbieDee]

4. My God! It's full of stars........

[WinstonSmith4740]

6. Open the pod bay doors, Hal.

[sakabatou]

60. Just as I was going to say

[Sekhmets Daughter]

5. Thanks for

the picture and the link!

[momsrule]

7. WOW!!

What more can I say?

[spinbaby]

8. Stunning

Makes a person realize just how small and insignificant we are, floating along on our little speck in the cosmos.

[Kablooie]

9. Which one is the Blue Fairy?

[renate]

10. and another wonderful thing about these nebulae...

They are many light-years across--isn't that amazing? They aren't just solar-system sized--they are immense. Wouldn't it be amazing to see them from the inside?

[AlbertCat]

37. They are many light-years across

And many light-years AWAY.

This is the way it looked 8150 years ago.

[pangaia]

66. OMG!

That is almost..it is.. unimaginable...!!

[snagglepuss]

49. Is it possible that we are inside a nebulae but don't know it?

[jeff47]

50. No - we'd be able to detect the dust. (and there'd be a lot fewer stars we could see) (nt)

[snagglepuss]

51. Thanks.

[CoboWowbo]

11. Hey...

I can see my home planet!

[valerief]

12. I'll bet you can't see Russia from there. nt

[allan01]

13. re:My God, this is beautiful!

[pipewrench]

17. thanks LongTomH

Desktop background +1

[Flying Squirrel]

18. Oh sure, it looks beautiful right up to the point

When you realize it's about to have you for dinner.

[Surya Gayatri]

19. Stunningly beautiful...thanks for posting, LongTom.

[tclambert]

20. So, Dad-unit, I borrowed your spaceship and . . . I kinda lost control and it sorta blew up . . .

It wasn't my fault! My buddy Xantac distracted me. He was telling me how our other friend Prilosec did this stupid thing and it was really funny and I got to laughing so hard I had a seizure or something. Honest, Dad-unit.

Anyway, it made this really pretty nebula. . . .

[Javaman]

21. Looks like the universe is giving us the finger...

not really all that surprising.

[demwing]

24. Or pointing us in the right direction

Last edited Tue Nov 20, 2012, 10:25 AM - Edit history (1)

if you prefer to see the universe as benevolent

[Javaman]

46. Which direction is that? "over there"

there is no up or down in space.

[demwing]

47. second star to the right

and straight on till morning

[Mustellus]

22. an "Open Cluster"....

A newly formed batch of blue-white super giants begins to evaporate the cloud they formed in. The shock waves from their explosions as supernovas after their brief lifetimes will compress the cloud and cause the formation of lower mass, sun-like stars. At the bottom, a lone super giant ( O class star, probably ) has begun its own hole... The small dark knots may be near the critical density to begin collapse to form another solar system....

[pangaia]

67. What exactly is a 'cloud" in this case?

[WCGreen]

23. I see a vagina..

[demwing]

25. Perv

sometimes a nebulae is just a nebulae

[SleeplessinSoCal]

26. Anybody else see the biblical looking figure emerging from the right of the pointy cloud?

I can't not see it now.

[mattvermont]

29. Moses with his staff? nt

[SleeplessinSoCal]

40. I cropped it

[IMG][/IMG]

[Tigress DEM]

42. Yep - and someone kneeling, praying? up to the left right under the pointy part

When I looked really close it seems the upper left kneeling figure is sacrificing a pig. I know it's late and my eyes are goofy, but clouds always seem to have interesting details to me.

[luvspeas]

52. I see two howling dogs and the hermit from Tarot cards n/t

[FlaGranny]

54. Looks like a witch on a broomstick to me.

could be flying over a pig - or maybe it's the moon.

[JHB]

64. Isn't that one of Godzilla's foes?

Maybe the smog monster?

[LongTomH]

43. Oh no! Now you've created a Religious Right meme!

It'll be all over the internet by morning!

[SleeplessinSoCal]

45. Didn't mean to. But I saw it right away and couldn't shake the vision.

[earthbot1]

27. So amazing

So strange. So much!

[haikugal]

28. Wow!!!

What a beautiful picture. Does anyone know if it's possible to get a poster of a picture like this? Thanks for posting this for us...it's glorious and thought provoking.

[D Gary Grady]

70. Yes indeed! Do a search for "astronomy posters"

You'll find plenty of them. Also check out the ads in magazines like Sky&Telescope, where you can also see remarkably beautiful photos shot by amateurs. If you have a camera that lets you shoot time exposures, you can capture some remarkable night sky images yourself, especially if you go somewhere dark. The Sky&Telescope website is http://sky.com.

[burrowowl]

30. Yes it is!

And what does Marco Rubio unthink!?
Asshole! He should read Teillard de Chardin!

[xfundy]

31. I see a hiker, or just a guy, sitting on the right side of the mountain.

Or is it that kid from the Hobbit? In the Ice Storm, too, I can't recall his name.

And, not to put too fine a point on it (unintentional entendre), the rock point looks uncut.

Here's what I found mind blowing, several years ago-- if you get a pic of your inner eye from an optometrist, it really does look just like pics from space.

Evidence for god? Dunno.

Evidence for structure in our world, I would guess.

But I'm no scientist, man.

[demwing]

48. "I'm not a scientist, man."

[1620rock]

32. Down the foggy ruins of time to the gates of creation...awesome...just awesome.

[nenagh]

33. That is the most beautiful photograph, many thanks..

[Cha]

34. Goodness! What an Awesome Sight that is

in our Universe..thank you, LongTomH!

[DreamGypsy]

35. My Universe...it is beautiful. (NT)

[sigmasix]

41. makes certain things seem insignificant

I cant help but hear the "Universe Song" by Monty Python in my head every time I see one of these stunning pictures of the cosmos.


"Can we have your liver then?"

[LongTomH]

44. There are larger images, including wallpaper size at the Hubble site.

http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0619a/

[pangaia]

68. I made it my desktop photo..

but of course it doesn't fit. :&gt

I checked out the Hubble site. WOW!

Thank so much for your post....

[DeSwiss]

53. Seven Sisters / Pleiades - K&R

[chknltl]

59. Staring at all of those suns made me sneeze.

Dust allergies.

[calimary]

62. "The Cathedral to Massive Stars" - WOW!!!!

NGC 6357: Cathedral to Massive Stars. Just blows the mind. THANK YOU for posting this, LongTomH! Shared on Facebook!

[Heathen57]

71. I just found

my newest Background for this laptop. Such beauty in deep space. If this was the only thing to come from NASA and all of the telescopes, it would be worth it to me.

[Jasana]

72. Oh Thank You!

Thank you for posting that beautiful picture. I emailed it to some friends and now have the website bookmarked as a favorite. I wish I knew it had had existed before.

[AsahinaKimi]

74. All I ask is a tall ship...

[WheelWalker]

77. Indeed.

Celestial navigation. What a wonder.

[Beartracks]

76. Absolutely stunning. Dare I say...

... Oh my God. It's full of stars.

------------

[Doc Holliday]

78. Judging from the

various interpretations of this phenomenon by the readers here, perhaps it should be renamed the "Rorschach Nebula."

Awesome pic.

[nikto]

79. Does God know about this?

Does Jesus know about this?

[Diclotican]

81. LongTomH

LongTomH

The Universe I full of this wonders - who we for the time being is not able to travel to look up close up and personal... And this is just beautifully for sure.. Thank you for your picture.

Diclotican

[cantbeserious]

85. If Only Republicans Could Appreciate This Majesty And Become More Humble

eom