quote:The three iconic space pillars photographed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 might have met their demise, according to new evidence from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
A new, striking image from Spitzer shows the intact dust towers next to a giant cloud of hot dust thought to have been scorched by the blast of a star that exploded, or went supernova. Astronomers speculate that the supernova's shock wave could have already reached the dusty towers, causing them to topple about 6,000 years ago. However, because light from this region takes 7,000 years to reach Earth, we won't be able to capture photos of the destruction for another 1,000 years or so. ......
Stuff like this just blows my mind. I can't even get my head around the scale of what's happening in this region of space.
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
For some reason, everytime I see those, I get a little bit of penis envy...
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Every time I see the Horse Head nebula, I get a little bit of horse head envy...
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Everytime I see the crab nebula I... oh never mind. Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
...have a yen to be treyf?
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Well, *I* start itching.
Anyway, the kicker here of course is that the Pillars don't really LOOK like that, thanks to spectral enhancements made mostly for our benefit. And yet, SF shows consistently get it wrong and show stellar phenomena being all bright and colourful. Beurk.
Mark
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
cause they use the same enhanced lense/software doohickeys
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
And in other news, the Sun might have exploded over seven minutes ago and we wouldn't realize it for another sixty-some seconds...
*sigh* Sometimes I just don't get people. All those nebulae and astronomical formations are nothing more than gigantic versions of the rainclouds we used to look up and imagine looked like bunny rabbits. They just take a lot longer to disappear.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mark Nguyen: Well, *I* start itching.
Anyway, the kicker here of course is that the Pillars don't really LOOK like that, thanks to spectral enhancements made mostly for our benefit. And yet, SF shows consistently get it wrong and show stellar phenomena being all bright and colourful. Beurk.
Mark
So do a lot of Sci-Fi themed video games, like many Star Trek games.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
I just saw an example of that on Voyager yesterday...man, I'd forgotten how BAD that show was.
Every time I see the Horse Head nebula, I get a little bit of horse head envy... You envy getting head from a horse? What would Mr. Ed say?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
He shouldn't be talking with his mouth full, anyway.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Example of?? The Eagle Nebula??? They used it rather graphically - excuse the pun in "Into the Fire" Babylon 5 when the Whitestar was waiting for the First Ones I believe.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
For you, punctuation is something that happens to other people, isn't it?
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
With a stapler.
--Jonah
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
With a stingray.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: I just saw an example of that on Voyager yesterday...man, I'd forgotten how BAD that show was.
Every time I see the Horse Head nebula, I get a little bit of horse head envy... You envy getting head from a horse? What would Mr. Ed say?
Well it was just a lame attempt at comedy. Excuse me for trying to get a laugh!
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Hey now- I was just fishing for the Mr. Ed blowjob jokes that never materialized. Is that so wrong?
If discussing a fictional talking horse giving a blowjob is wrong, I dont want to be right.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by TSN: For you, punctuation is something that happens to other people, isn't it?
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
It's only a horsehead from a certain point of view. Now, if you combine it with the pillars, that's different altogether, that's "Mr Hands".
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
Does it say "Aloha" or "You're wasting my time Spicoli"?
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