The sharpest image ever taken of the spiral galaxy M81

Excellent find and thanks for posting!!! I've always been extremely fascinated with our Universe, but when you see just a small sample of its offerings, it always takes me to another level!

I would love and I dream of being able to sight see all of our Universe. There is so much to discover and explore, it just frustrates me to know that we can't and aren't doing things fast and well enough.

To me, it's like being chained to a pole in your backyard knowing that there is an entire world to explore and experience but you just can't. At least not yet..

Again, great picture!! Thanks for sharing!!

Originally posted by Nohup


just because there's a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere and some water and ice doesn't mean life is guaranteed on them, because we don't even know how life started on this planet.

And just because there isn't ice, water, nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere doesn't mean that there isn't life that exists in that environment.

In fact, there is no evidence that says life MUST have any particular thing and therefore can exist anywhere, anytime, anyplace, in any form. If you try to say science says so ... well, no, theories say so. Theories are consistently proved wrong. Life doesn't need oxygen to exist. Life can exist at extreme temperatures. We have proof of that on THIS planet, despite past theories that were accepted by ignorant scientists of the past to the contrary.

It is closed-minded to believe some moron that claims no other life exists because he/she thinks it to be so. Lack of evidence is not a fact ... it just means you haven't found anything yet. Just because I haven't looked at Pluto through a telescope doesn't mean it isn't there ... well, with our limited abilities to see out there, it is the same thing. Reality is more amazing than your imagination. Dark matter, anti-matter, etc. stuff that was science fiction and thoughts of mad men are starting to be found and proved real.

You have the right to believe what you want, but, being sarcastic like you were in your first post, you should have expected a post in response by someone.

Limit you imagination, you mind ... and you are stuck in a small, boring existence. Open up yourself to all possibilities, and the world is a expansive and beautiful place.

Nothing is impossible, just some things are improbable.

Do you believe in the big bang? There is no proof, no evidence, no video. It is just a guess, a postulation. Until someone can travel through time, it is all a bunch of hooey, no? Most 'science' is.

With a picture like this, I cannot believe anyone could think (especially if they have ANY mathematical abilities) that other forms of life do not exist. There is a better chance for me to hit the lottery every day for the rest of my life than there is to not be at least one other existence of life in this universe ... not to mention, there may well be other universes with equal possibilities of life in them.



Whatever though, be happy, life is short ... so take comfort in whatever thoughts make you feel good and sleep well at night I know I do I have no quarrels with someone believing something ... just when they think they have the need to correct, force, impose on, or belittle others who don't agree. It is ok to have different opinions, since there is no fact on the subject ... until we explore 100% of the universe, it can never be a 'fact' that there is no life out there. It is really just opinions.

This is absolutely awe inspiring. Just as great as the Hubble deep field image (high quality ver.)
Thanks for that huge .tif link, cant wait to open it in CS3

And yes there is plenty of life in that picture

Not to get off topic, but if the Hubble can get this kind of great image that far away, why doesn't NASA aim that telescope that we all paid for towards the MOON??

I would be curious as hell to see what it can and cannot pick up with that lens!! just a thought

reply to post by IAttackPeople


Actually this would be the extreme closeup...



Looks like it could be barred. Isn't there another galaxy crashing into us right now? Maybe this is a reflection.



These images... if you don't feel compelled to shell out the money to get a wall-sized photo printed... I really think there's something wrong with you.

WoW!!
I am going to show this to my children tomorrow, just to put their lives into some kind of perspective. We are not even specks. Kind of humbling isn't it? All the bills I have due to pay just seemed a lot less depressing.
You get a Big Blue Star OP!

Originally posted by FreeThinkerIdealist
It is closed-minded to believe some moron that claims no other life exists because he/she thinks it to be so. Lack of evidence is not a fact ... it just means you haven't found anything yet.

Lack of evidence is just that. No evidence. You can hypothesize about some wonderful "virtual" evidence out there just waiting to be found, but that don't make it real. Or even possibly real.

I don't know if there's other life out there. Maybe there is. But I prefer not to just believe in it because there are a lot of stars and planets out there. There are a lot of hollow trees in the forest, too, but that don't make me believe more in leprechauns.

I guess we morons just like to have a little evidence of those leprechauns before we go looking for their pots of gold.

Originally posted by shadow_D
Not to get off topic, but if the Hubble can get this kind of great image that far away, why doesn't NASA aim that telescope that we all paid for towards the MOON??

The space telescope is built to look at things that are really really tiny and dim, like this galaxy. Go out with some binoculars and look into your high beams. Same effect.

Originally posted by AGENT_T
Starred..

I'm going to add it to my list of..

"PICTURES TO LOOK AT IF YOU THINK YOU'RE IMPORTANT"

Forgive me for jumping at your words... but the subject is just too important to me.

Are you saying that the immensity of the universe, as seen through human eyes, somehow implies that any single individual particle of living (and perhaps even "non-living") matter is "unimportant"?

I never could understand that line of thought...
I remember quite the opposite feeling, ever since I was a child.
Whenever I observed the myriads of stars above me, an intense feeling of magnificence overcame me: the warm feeling of being a very small - and therefore precious and protected - part of that magnificence. Very very small - but by no means unimportant.

I still feel like that today - and I am glad. ; )

I believe that is a quasar. I don't know much about them. I thought they had something to do with massive black holes chewing stuff up and spitting the debris out the base.

imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov...

www.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca...

en.wikipedia.org...





[edit on 3-12-2007 by zerotime]

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
does anyone have any idea what this could be??

The last time this image was posted here, it was determined that it is 2 galaxies close together, one being on it's side.

I still can't open this image without my PC turning into an XT ! ;/

Beauty image thanks for sharing much appreciated a star and flag for you..

To the dude saying theirs no life out there well your entitled to your opinion...
From looking into the inner universe and outer universe through meditation and astro-travel i believe we have many extended cosmic relatives.. You only have to look within your self through the energy of the spirit/soul that you will see for yourself... If you can't yet it is because you are not ready and have much more to learn and experience.....

[edit on 4/12/07 by free_spirit_earth]

Sorry bout the double post but wanted to comment on the 't' image i believe it is 2 galaxies colliding..

[edit on 4/12/07 by free_spirit_earth]

that's of course a cork-screw

Thanks for the awesome picture. Puts things in perspective indeed.

Originally posted by Nohup
I guess we morons just like to have a little evidence of those leprechauns before we go looking for their pots of gold.

Ah, but pots of gold there are my friend. If you don't open your mind enough to look, your eyes will never gaze upon them. Don't forget the golden rule. He who holds (finds) the gold makes the rules. Be a leader or follow safely with the weak.

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
hmmmm

Look at this...found in the lower right hand corner


here (just enlarged - no edit):

The others are right. It's a pair of galaxies, one of which is rotated 90 degrees to the other as they collide. I remember seeing this picture before, I just can't find it again to see which galaxies they are.

Many thanks to every one; I love to sit in front of my PC and watch these marvelous creations of the supreme power; nothing in this world can match them or tell us how small we ARE

I never knew i will get this much responds in my thread; Thanks again; I would love to share each and every picture with you people; please click on the link below to view more images

Thanks & Regards

Click here to view more pictures

Great picture, thanks for posting.

Now I have some questions thought. We are looking at billions of stars in this galaxy, millions that could potentially have life harboring planets orbiting around them.

If the universe have such high amount of life in it. Then why isn't SETI antennas picking up any signals from extra terrestrial intelligence?

Is it because we don't know what frequencies to cover? No one sending signals this way? Maybe everyone is listening only? Is there a scientific conclusions on the lack of SETIs success yet?



[edit on 4-12-2007 by Raabjorn]

Originally posted by Raabjorn
If the universe have such high amount of life in it. Then why isn't SETI antennas picking up any signals from extra terrestrial intelligence?

Maybe they communicate using quantum entanglement so there's no radio waves involved. On the scale of galaxies, radio waves would be useless for long distance communication. It could also be that the most intelligent species in the universe is stuck in a body without opposable thumbs. Imagine having the most powerful brain in creation and just dreaming of the day when you evolve enough to pick up a stick.

Absolutely extraordinary - what a great post. Have a star - but really that's not enough, you ought to have a medal for making so many people's day!

Cheers, mate.

LW