Boy, the taxpayers certainly got their money's worth from the Hubble Space Telescope! A site on the net declares that the pictures on this page are among the 25 greatest pictures ever taken by Hubble, but the site failed to say what the pictures were. There were no captions! I have no idea what most of these images are!
Star formation (above)? Click to enlarge.
A nebula (above), maybe the aftermath of a nova.
Could this (above) be two galaxies that nearly collided? What is the jet stream that's emanating from the one on the right? Is it a gamma ray jet or just the arm of the galaxy seen edge-on?
I'm guessing that this (above) is an explosion in progress. It seems to have created shock waves in the disk of debris that may have been ejected before the explosion.
For comparison, here's (above) the expanding fireball from an American nuclear detonation in the 60s.
More colliding galaxies (above)?
Star formation?
This barbell shape (above) is a common explosive pattern, I don't know why. And what are the nipples on either end?
I'll hazard a guess and speculate that these (above) are stars from the middle of our own galaxy where stars are densely packed, and move rapidly.
What the heck!!!????
Sorry if I've posted this one before (above). It's an optical light picture of the first planet outside our own solar system ever to be photographed: Fomalhaut B.
Maybe the remnants of multiple novas in the same area? I've read that clustered stars get to a certain age then go off like fireworks in a chain, one after the other.
I couldn't resist adding a final picture from a different source, a blog called "Astronomy Picture of the Day" (link on the sidebar). That's (above) the North Pole of Saturn as recently revealed by Cassini and, believe it or not, that's a giant hexagon in the clouds. It's been there for years, nobody knows why. Every once in a while straight, dark spokes emanate from it, and no one knows where they come from either. The dots are cyclones. The center is dark because JPL couldn't get good resolution on it.
Many thanks to Buzz who sent me the link in a comment.
Here's a good site for astronomy pics and with captions explaining what they are (plus a HUGE archive):
ReplyDeletehttp://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
That's so strange how the stars are so close together (pure neighbors!) yet in reality are billions of miles apart. I love the Hubble and her accomplishments!
ReplyDeleteEddie,
ReplyDeleteWould you do an obituary post on Roy Disney? I'd love to see that.
Did you hear about the new Earth-like planet discovered?
ReplyDeleteSpace scares me to no end.
ReplyDeleteEddie,
ReplyDeleteI found this and it reminded me of your recent post on maps. Thought you might be interested.
www.kalimedia.com/Atlas_of_True_Names.html
Happy to see sketches in the sidebar... like the hardboiled captioning "theory in the Raw..." or sum such... reminds me of that bristol sketch of Wood's where he lettered: "...So Be It, and Brew It, and Now, Let's See if It's Done. This is a Thing of Men (...)"
ReplyDeleteThe degree of implication alone in these captions maybe worth more than an actually elaborated story. the language of pictures rather than the literal drawn-out.
Buzz: Thanks a million! I added that site to the links and included one of the pictures in the article.
ReplyDeleteLester: Roy Disney? He certainly deserves a post but i don't know enough about him to write it. I'll just say that I, like every other artist, wish I could have had a loyal and dependable brother who would have handled the business end of a partnership.
Kali: Yeah, I heard about that. I almost did a post about it at the time. Thanks for reminding me.
KNacht: That's a great quote! I'd love to see that picture. Was that in SquaTront (spelled right?), or one of the Wood sketchbooks?
Rooni: It scares me too. That's a good thing!
Trevor: Since the stars are mostly rushing away from each other, exploration gets more difficult all the time. We can only hope that we discover a warp drive or something.
Stephen: Holy Mackerel!!!!! Those are great maps! They'd make perfect Christmas presents. Many, many thanks for telling me about this!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI know these are beautiful to look at, but I think the only practical use for space exploration is finding new planets for Earthlings to settle on. But that's impracical, because everything's light years away.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can hope some alien sends rovers to earth...
Just saw this video posted today on our known universe.
ReplyDeletehttp://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/eu_fCKIp35U/prepare-to-have-your-brain-exploded-by-this-known-universe-video
> The center is dark because JPL
ReplyDelete> couldn't get good resolution
Or could it be that Saturn is "hollow" like that Hollow Earth Map? It looks like the cyclones are curving inward. hmmm
Ok, I'd better stop before the men in black get wise.
I have got to check in on you much more often!
ReplyDeleteI think you can click on my name now...
Gordon Kent
Incredible Stuff. It's amazing to me that we humans see form, structure, purpose, and beauty in something so far removed from every sensibility we were created from.
ReplyDeleteMakes you think just how universal our understanding might be.
Also, Eddie, out of complete curiosity, why did you decide to remove your post on Hentai?
ReplyDeleteWow, that second one looks like a unicorn :)
ReplyDeleteMattieshoe: I usually take down sex posts after they're up for a few weeks. That's because i want kids and teens to be able to read this blog as well as adults.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, kids are the premium audience. I used to watch TV with my kids and I learned a lot from that. When adults like something they smile. That's all...just a smile. When kids like what they see they jump up and down, throw couch pillows, and squeal and laugh. No doubt about who the best audience is.
Also, media can change kids...put their whole lives on a different path. Adults are jaded. They act like they've seen and done it all, and you can't get a rise out of them. Give me kids everytime.
The difficulty is that I can't resist doing some adult stories. The compromise I make is to do the stories, but limit the time that they're up.
BTW, I don't consider "I Lost My Keys" and stories like that to be adult content. They're sexy, but there's nothing sleazy about them.
Gordon: Glad to have you! Pull up a chair and sit a spell!
David: Wow! I certainly did feel insignificant after watching that!
Thanks for the freaky galactic pictures. I guess those guys who painted the covers to all the Star Trek paperbacks in the '70s knew what they were talking about.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Kali Fontecchio's post about an Earth-like planet being discovered: We should colonize that planet immediately!
ReplyDeleteSorry I failed to follow-up, Ed. I believe the Wood sketch in question has been reproduced several places, but I remember it from the Kitchen Sink published (ca. '86) Outer Space Spirit Wood did for Eisner in the early 50's, (with a script by Jules Fieffer-sp?). It's an ink sketch on bristol with a cigarette burn! Wood was giving a practice run at some lettering, I surmise. Fun, fun!
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