2009 - 20 Astounding Photos of Space

Hi all,

we've all seen some wonderful photos over the last 12 months from Space. I thought I would post this collection as a recap of the year 2009.

Enjoy!


1/ This image provided by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm, glowing clouds. The festive portrait is the most detailed view of a young stellar grouping, called R136 in the 30 Doradus Nebula

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2/ This image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope shows an area in the northwest region of the large Iris Nebula which seems to be clogged with cosmic dust, looking like cotton wool

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3/ A Hubble false-colour image of glowing gas and dark dust clouds in IC 1795, a star-forming region in the constellation Cassiopeia. Located just over 6,000 light-years away, the complex sprawls along the Perseus spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy

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4/ The Cartwheel galaxy as seen by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer's Far Ultraviolet detector, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory

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5/ An image taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope shows a celestial object that looks like a delicate butterfly

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6/ The Crab Nebula, one of the most studied objects in the sky. X-ray data from Chandra provide significant clues to the workings of this mighty cosmic "generator," which is producing energy at the rate of 100,000 suns

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7/ Observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory are combined to produce an unprecedented image of the central region of our Milky Way galaxy

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8/ This image, taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope, shows stars bursting to life in the chaotic Carina Nebula

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9/ This image reveals a small region inside the massive globular cluster Omega Centauri, which boasts nearly 10 million stars

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10/ The emission nebula NGC 6164, which was created by a rare, hot, luminous O-type star, some 40 times as massive as the Sun. Seen at the centre of the cosmic cloud, the star is a mere three to four million years old

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11/ An image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows the most detailed view of star birth in the nearby spiral galaxy M83, nicknamed the Southern Pinwheel

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12/ This image from combined data from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope shows a pair of colliding galaxies called NGC 6240 in a rare, short-lived phase of their evolution just before they merge into a single, larger galaxy

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13/ Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory have captured a new image of the Trifid Nebula, showing just why it is a firm favourite of astronomers. This massive star factory is 5500 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius

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14/ It looks like a soap bubble, but this is a planetary nebula caused when stars die and blast out a glowing shell of gas and plasma. Known as the "Soap Bubble Nebula", this rare planetary nebula PN G75.5 1.7 was discovered by an amateur astronomer

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15/ From his garden in the New Forest, Professor Greg Parker takes images of deep space which are now collected in his book Star Vistas. Included in the book is this image of NGC 2264 or as it is more commonly known, The Christmas Tree Nebula

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16/ Stephan's Quintet, a compact group of galaxies discovered about 130 years ago and located about 280 million light years from Earth

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17/ A European Southern Observatory (ESO) handout photo of a new image of the Eagle Nebula, a stellar nursery filled with clusters of infant stars, 7,000 light years away towards the constellation of Serpans (the Snake)

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18/ The Flame Nebula, a spectacular star-forming cloud of gas and dust in the constellation of Orion. The image was taken by the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (Vista), based at the Paranal Observatory in Chile

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19/ A galaxy called NGC 1097, which is located 50 million light-years away. The "eye" at the centre of the galaxy is actually a monstrous black hole surrounded by a ring of stars. Image obtained by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

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20/ The large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is NGC 5194. Its arms and dust lanes sweep in front of its companion galaxy, NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant

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There you have it. Hope you enjoyed! My personal favorite is Number 5, the one that looks like a butterfly. amazing!

g.


www.telegraph.co.uk...

Awesome, thanks for posting.

S&F

I saw these the other day. they are now in roatation for my screensaver.

They are awesome though. Think about what else we will have pictures of over the next ten years or so. These are just tiny spots in the sky.

Excellent post.

Here is a nice picture of our MOON! I never thought that it looked like this. I have a telescope and I never seen it being this colorful.

www.rc-astro.com...








[edit on 26pm12 30 200 by goddogo1]

Great photos thank you for that.
There is so much us humans need to learn about space

reply to post by Sth Hemisphere


I agree. every year that goes past we are seeing more amazing photographs as well as discovering new things.

Just beautiful. Reminds me of my old Moody Blue albums! Trippy for sure!

Gorgeous! Thanks for that.

Absolutely beautiful!

So amazing what is out there

reply to post by grantbeed

They look great!
Here are some more on my webpage.
- Cool Pics - Happy New Year!

Amazing pictures.
You know, when I see these photos, I can't help but think that it is like a "destiny" if you will for us to be out there amongst those things.

Can you imagine being able to travel amongst the galaxies at will?

Oh my god! Wouldn't it be grand?!!

It makes our problems here on Earth seem SO, SO insignificant.

S&F

Originally posted by JayinAR
Amazing pictures.
You know, when I see these photos, I can't help but think that it is like a "destiny" if you will for us to be out there amongst those things.

Can you imagine being able to travel amongst the galaxies at will?

Oh my god! Wouldn't it be grand?!!

It makes our problems here on Earth seem SO, SO insignificant.

S&F

That's just it.
I think Majestic has a Cigar shaped beamship of its own.
I think MJ-12 has been to Zeta Reticula already. - Fold Space -

Is it just me, or do these pictures look fake? Not saying they ARE fake, but they sure look like it. Beautiful pictures though

Fantastic post thank you for sharing this with us. Worthy of a flag and a star.

The scale of the things in those photos is staggering.

Absolutely fantastic!!!!

S+F

Every time someone thinks they have a problem down here, should look at stuff like this and realize how futile it is.

We are nothing in the Universe, and full only of our own self-importance.

Nice post and great images,

In the third photo I see a very clear cats head at bottom middle-right,
and top right can see a horse, normal for humans to see faces in things, but these are tantalizing to me.

pictures of these distant galaxies and nebuli are always awesome and inspire the spirit, though everytime i see one i wonder: Why spend all that time studying distant bodies beyond our galaxy, yet not a single photo of any surrounding stars and solar systems that are much closer? Space based telescopes have been around for quite awhile, and I know some of the most brilliant people Nasa has to offer have definitely said: Hey, lets point that thing over there and see what the surrounding stars have to offer....c'mon.

Very nice post.
Thank you

Thanks for posting these photos, they are really great, It seems the more we learn about the universe the stranger it gets