[www.nasa.gov]

The lazily winding spiral arms of the spectacular galaxy NGC 976 fill the frame of this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This spiral galaxy lies around 150 million light-years from the Milky Way in the constellation Aries. Despite its tranquil appearance, NGC 976 has played host to one of the most violent astronomical phenomena known – a supernova explosion. These cataclysmically violent events take place at the end of the lives of massive stars and can outshine entire galaxies for a short period. While supernovae mark the deaths of massive stars, they are also responsible for the creation of heavy elements that are incorporated into later generations of stars and planets.

Supernovae are also a useful aid for astronomers who measure the distances to faraway galaxies. The amount of energy thrown out into space by some types of supernova explosions is very uniform, allowing astronomers to estimate their distances from how bright they appear to be when viewed from Earth. This image – which was created using data from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 – comes from a large collection of Hubble observations of nearby galaxies which host supernovae as well as a pulsating class of stars known as Cepheid variables. Both Cepheids and supernovae are used to measure astronomical distances, and galaxies containing both objects provide useful natural laboratories where the two methods can be calibrated against one another.

Text credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Jones, A. Riess et al.

Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
301-286-1940

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I love that stuff...

Crazy when you think how long it will take to explore our own galaxy, let alone the billions of the rest of the galaxies-each populated by thousands to billions of stars. Even if we have Warp Speed or Hyperspatial Jumping, the unimaginable vastness of just our Milky Way
alone is a lot of real estate to cover-

I've read that the most distant objects are traveling away from us at faster than the speed of light because they were formed before the physical laws of the universe were established!

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A little break from the grief...






Disclaimer: This post is checked for correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Any attempts at humor are solely the responsibility of the author and bear no claim that any and all readers will approve or appreciate said attempt at humor.
My name is DP, and I approve this message.

One of my favorites: M87, a huge, huge! elliptical galaxy that consists of a few trillion stars and with a jet of matter being ejected from the incredibly massive central black hole, traveling at close to the speed of light.

It looks like as if there is one star at the center with a "light halo" surrounding it but that "halo" is all stars!

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A little break from the grief...






Disclaimer: This post is checked for correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Any attempts at humor are solely the responsibility of the author and bear no claim that any and all readers will approve or appreciate said attempt at humor.
My name is DP, and I approve this message.

Let's hope those last couple reaction wheels last a long, long, time! Or SpaceX pulls of a miracle, and figures out a way to use the Dragon II to send a servicing mission... (very unlikely... just docking to the Hubble would be nearly insurmountable...)

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
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Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
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Eureka, CA

Quote
Paul F.
Let's hope those last couple reaction wheels last a long, long, time! Or SpaceX pulls of a miracle, and figures out a way to use the Dragon II to send a servicing mission... (very unlikely... just docking to the Hubble would be nearly insurmountable...)

There are hopes of a Hubble servicing mission? I hadn't seen anything about this.

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Ways to improve web conference image and sound quality. [forums.macresource.com]

Quote
pRICE cUBE

...a supernova explosion. These cataclysmically violent events take place at the end of the lives of massive stars and can outshine entire galaxies for a short period. While supernovae mark the deaths of massive stars, they are also responsible for the creation of heavy elements that are incorporated into later generations of stars and planets.

Quote
DP


I've read that the most distant objects are traveling away from us at faster than the speed of light because they were formed before the physical laws of the universe were established!

Well, that's not exactly what Hubble's Law says.

Quote
pRICE cUBE

Quote
Paul F.
Let's hope those last couple reaction wheels last a long, long, time! Or SpaceX pulls of a miracle, and figures out a way to use the Dragon II to send a servicing mission... (very unlikely... just docking to the Hubble would be nearly insurmountable...)

There are hopes of a Hubble servicing mission? I hadn't seen anything about this.

No plan currently... Just some amateurs doing "back of the envelope" math, without knowing half the variables...
If SpaceX or NASA are planning anything, they're not telling anyone.

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

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--
Eureka, CA