Your favourite pictures of the universe

[Skylights]

I adore astronomy. I love to look at pictures, understand whats going on and just attempt to realize the enormity of what i am seeing. It's just so fascinating.

[And what makes it better, is knowing (or at least im very very certain) that Allah, Yahweh, or Jesus didn't design it all with some higher plan or something in mind--but thats not the purpose of this thread, settle down apologists]

 

Here are some of my favourites. I wont post too many!

 

Carina Nebula

 

Dumbbell nebula

 

 

 

The sombrero galaxy

 

[Bumblebee]

These are a few of my favourite pictures....

 

The Horse Head Nebula

The Helix Nebula

 

The NGC 2467 nebula

 

 

stellar spire in the Eagle Nebula

 

 

The Antennae Galaxies

 

 

The Universe is something I'm fascinated with, so I'll try not to hog this page with all my favourites

Edited November 7, 2010 by Bumblebee

[Former Member]

Beautiful

 

I love space images

[Caedus]

Pelican Nebula:

 

 

 

 

NGC 1365:

 

 

 

Hoag's Object:

 

 

 

 

Cepheus Flare:

 

 

 

 

[VickyS]

^^Cool Pics, like to save them all :-)

[JamesSavik]

Large Magellanic Cloud

 

Small Magellanic Cloud

These are two small "satellite galaxies" to the Milky Way that can only be seen "down under" (the Southern hemisphere).

 

Trarantula Nebula in the LMC

 

M31 or the Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy that textbooks have used for generations as an example of what the Milky Way probably looks like.

 

More recent findings suggest that our galaxy probably looks more like NGC 1300, a barred spiral galaxy.

 

This is a wide field view of the Great Nebulea in Orion which is composed of several overlapping objects with distinct Messier and NGC numbers. If you look closely, you can see the Horsehead Nebula in the bottom left side of the picture. The Horsehead is actually a dust cloud sitting between our view and the bright background of the rest of the nebula. These dust clouds are where new star systems form.

 

There are few objects more beautiful than the Seven Sisters or the Pleiades Cluster in Taurus. It is a cluster of a number of blue stars with an HII nebula close by.

 

A wide field shot which shows features of the North American and Pelican Nebulea.

 

The "Pillars of Creation" in M16 or the Eagle Nebula are an excellent example of a area where star formation is ongoing.

[JamesSavik]

If you really like these pictures, you might want to bookmark Astronomy Picture of the Day

 

Every day it features an image from the Hubble, space probes and ground based observatories.

[VickyS]

Sure I do, thank you so much for the link,

Its great to observe them.

[Nephylim]

I've pit it on my favourites bar. I love love love those pictures. I am not good at putting photographs into posts but one of my favourite is the snail's head nebula.

[soup]

I have so many that it's a little ridiclous. I guess that's just what you get for being a faithful APOD checker for 3+ years.

 

Some recent favourites.

 

Hubble's Lagoon

 

Equinox and the Iron Sun

 

Vela Supernova Remnant

 

Tentacles of the Tarantula Nebula

 

I'll just leave it at that for now

[thatboyChase]

did you know those are pictures of dead gods, think about it

[Skylights]

Soup, whats the first one of?

 

I adore it--but i like to know whats going on in the picture too!

[soup]

Soup, whats the first one of?

 

I adore it--but i like to know whats going on in the picture too!

 

No problemo, here you go:

 

APOD: 2 October 2010 - Hubble's Lagoon

 

Hubble's Lagoon

Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Space Telescope

Explanation: Like brush strokes on a canvas, ridges of color seem to flow across this scene. But here, the canvas is nearly 3 light-years wide and the colors map emission from ionized gas in the Lagoon Nebula, recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Also known as M8, the nebula is a star forming region about 5,000 light-years distant in the constellation Sagittarius. Hubble's remarkably sharp, close-up view reveals undulating shapes sculpted by the energetic light and winds from the region's new born stars. Of course, the Lagoon nebula is a popular target for earthbound skygazers, too. It features a prominent dust lane and bright hourglass shape in small telescopes with wider fields of view.

[thephoenix]

I find these pictures of space - especially the colourful nebulae, very stunningly beautiful.

 

Even if I see a very high resolution picture of, perhaps, Jupiter or Saturn, it is very intriguing to look at all the complexities of those planets.

[Stargazer]

Every one of those pictures is just breathtaking! I love looking at the stars (hence my name lol) and the idea of what all is out there is so exciting. And thanks for that link. I'm going to be checking that out daily.

[Skyline]

I'm fairly certain that the pillars of creation in the M16 nebula no longer exist. I remember reading an article that there was a nearby star which had gone supernova, and effectively obliterated the "brad pitt" of nebulae so to speak

 

 

edit: Ahh yes, found the article,

 

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10925-pillars-of-creation-destroyed-by-supernova.html

Edited December 15, 2010 by Skyline

[JamesSavik]

I'm fairly certain that the pillars of creation in the M16 nebula no longer exist. I remember reading an article that there was a nearby star which had gone supernova, and effectively obliterated the "brad pitt" of nebulae so to speak

 

 

The pillars are still there from our vantage point but shock waves and solar winds are blowing them away- but slowly.

 

They are light years in dimension but it takes a very long time.

 

Eagle Nebula

The longest of the 'Pillars' is seven light years long, and because of their massive density interior gasses contract gravitationally to form stars. At each 'pillars' end, the intense radiation of bright young stars causes low density material to boil away, leaving stellar nurseries of dense EGGs exposed. Due to the huge distance between us (approximately 7000 light years), the Pillars of Creation may already be gone, and instead a stellar star nursery could have taken its place. In early 2007, scientists using the Spitzer discovered evidence that potentially indicates that the Pillars were destroyed by a nearby supernova explosion about 6,000 years ago, but the light showing the new shape of the nebula will not reach Earth for another millennium.

[Skyline]

Oops, nevermind lol

Edited December 15, 2010 by Skyline

[Julian Alexander]

This came out a few days ago, it shows Earth's Natural Satellite (the Moon) and one of its Artificial Satellites (International Space Station) aligned.

[Frostina]

My favourite pictures are here already!!

 

So, i'll just name them..

 

The Helix Nebula, The Sombrero Galaxy, The Pillars of Creation and The rings of Saturn... I'm kinda surprised no one else said that yet!!

 

p.s. I tried to add pics.. and it didn't work