The universe might be big and wonderful and scary, but that doesn’t mean we can’t understand it.
The universe might be big and wonderful and scary, but that doesn’t mean we can’t understand it.
1. This is what a nebula looks like in visible light versus infrared.
NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team / spacetelescope.org / spacetelescope.org
3. This is how thin our atmosphere actually is.
NASA / Via lasp.colorado.edu
There’s a reason scientists sometimes refer to it as the thin blue line.
4. We actually see slightly more than half the moon.
Thanks to something called lunar libration (basically, a wobbly orbit) we can get a peek of the other side of the moon.
6. For the first astronauts on Mars, Earth will be just a tiny speck in the sky.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/TAMU / Via jpl.nasa.gov
7. This is what it looks like when planets form around a star.
ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ); C. Brogan, B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)
The orange disk that surrounds the star it is made up of dust and gas. The dark bands in the image are where the gas and dust has been swept up by newly formed planet.
8. This picture shows the sun reflecting off the sea on Saturn’s moon Titan.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/University of Idaho / Via jpl.nasa.gov
Yes, some moons have seas.
9. This is what Saturn looks like from the other side, with the sun behind it.
NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute / Via photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov
10. And that tiny dot just inside Saturn’s second ring is Earth.
NASA/JPL
To paraphrase Carl Sagan, everyone you’ve ever loved or hated or even just met once and have no strong opinion on lives on those few pixels.
11. This is the sharpest image the Hubble Space Telescope has ever taken.
NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, http://B.F. Williams, and http://L.C. Johnson (University of Washington), the PHAT team, and R. Gendler
It’s part of our neighbour the Andromeda galaxy. The full size version contains more than a 100 million stars.
12. This is what it looks like when a small galaxy passes behind a bigger spiral one.
Post a Comment