NASA Telescope Takes Beautiful Photo of 'Hand of God'

NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array recently caught the above image, showing a "pulsar wind nebula" derived from the death of a star. It's being called the "Hand of God." The reason for the nickname is pretty clear.

Space.com (and other sources) say the "hand" is really just pareidolia.

The Hand of God is an example of pareidolia, the psychological phenomenon of perceiving familiar shapes in random or vague images. Other common forms of pareidolia include seeing animals or faces in clouds, or the man in the moon. Despite its supernatural appearance, the Hand of God was produced by natural astrophysical phenomena.

Source: www.space.com...


Whatever significance you see in this picture, we can surely all agree that it is beautiful.


Here is a write-up from NASA for those wanting more technical info on the picture:

Can you see the shape of a hand in this new X-ray image? The hand might look like an X-ray from the doctor's office, but it is actually a cloud of material ejected from a star that exploded. NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has imaged the structure in high-energy X-rays for the first time, shown in blue. Lower-energy X-ray light previously detected by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is shown in green and red.

Nicknamed the "Hand of God," this object is called a pulsar wind nebula. It's powered by the leftover, dense core of a star that blew up in a supernova explosion. The stellar corpse, called PSR B1509-58, or B1509 for short, is a pulsar: it rapidly spins around, seven times per second, firing out a particle wind into the material around it -- material that was ejected in the star's explosion. These particles are interacting with magnetic fields around the material, causing it to glow with X-rays. The result is a cloud that, in previous images, looked like an open hand. The pulsar itself can't be seen in this picture, but is located near the bright white spot.

One of the big mysteries of this object is whether the pulsar particles are interacting with the material in a specific way to make it look like a hand, or if the material is in fact shaped like a hand.

NuSTAR's view is providing new clues to the puzzle. The hand actually shrinks in the NuSTAR image, looking more like a fist, as indicated by the blue color. The northern region, where the fingers are located, shrinks more than the southern part, where a jet lies, implying the two areas are physically different.

The red cloud at the end of the finger region is a different structure, called RCW 89. Astronomers think the pulsar's wind is heating the cloud, causing it to glow with lower-energy X-ray light.

In this image, X-ray light seen by Chandra with energy ranges of 0.5 to 2 kiloelectron volts (keV) and 2 to 4 keV is shown in red and green, respectively, while X-ray light detected by NuSTAR in the higher-energy range of 7 to 25 keV is blue.

Source: www.nasa.gov...-0vZUEXx

Breathtaking..

Looks like some sort of horny skull in the hand. I only see one horn, possibly a goat. Once you're imagining, why stop at a hand.

Awesome . If I had my own telescope able to take pictures of the universe I think I would have to be pulled out of the observatory as I would just keep myself in there like a hermit.

Nice pic!

Now I am just waiting for the ultra religious crowd to start saying this is evidence of creation....god is showing us he created the universe....

Is it my imagination or is he giving us the bird?

(I find it ironic the "hand of god" is found in the death of a star.)

Regardless it's very cool. Thanks for sharing.

reply to post by VegHead


Sheeet-the simpsons/family guy etc got it right-3fingers,1Thumb.
But what is the hand reaching for?
A giant cosmic craw daddy?
A wingless cosmic bug?
Who can say,but its cool business whatever it is.

Silcone Synapse
reply to post by VegHead

 

Sheeet-the simpsons/family guy etc got it right-3fingers,1Thumb.
.