Recent/New Space Pictures : (check out these ones)

Supernova Switch
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A new picture from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a supernova finally giving up its youthful look. First seen from Earth in February 1987, the stellar explosion is now undergoing visible changes that signal it's evolving into a supernova remnant. The brilliant blast came from the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring galaxy of our own Milky Way. Dubbed SN 1987A, it was the closest supernova witnessed in almost 400 years. Although light from the object had been fading over time, new observations show that the ring of debris is brightening, which astronomers take as a sign that the supernova is moving into a new phase of existence.

Stellar Glob
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A new addition to ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile, the VST is a 2.6-meter telescope with a huge 268-megapixel camera at its heart. The telescope's extremely wide field of view encompasses even the faint outer regions of the star cluster, allowing astronomers to see about 300,000 stars in one frame.

Green Ring Nebula
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Seen in a newly released infrared picture, the nebula is a bubble of gas and dust being sculpted by powerful radiation from a very massive central star. Although it's barely a twinkle in infrared, the normally bright, bluish star is emitting rays so strong that they're stripping electrons from surrounding hydrogen atoms, causing the charged gas inside the ring to glow red.

Galaxy's Dark Tendrils
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Released Thursday, the image shows dark tendrils of dust weaving through the galactic disk. Hubble's view combines ultraviolet through near-infrared wavelengths to show how the dense lanes are dotted with young, blue star clusters normally hidden by dust.

Source: news.nationalgeographic.com...#/firestorm-star-birth-galaxy -centaurus_36621_600x450.jpg

As I always say, I love this stuff. Just look at them a wonder off into deep thought(s).

My fovorite of these is the first one. Wow.

And, this is just a small piece of the universe that we can see. I wonder whatelse beholds.

Here is another thing I saw at National Geographic that Space Junkies might enjoy:

NG Field Notes: Chasing Pluto Across the Pacific [Blog]
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Like a solar eclipse, we need to be in just the right place at the right time. Pluto and its large moon Charon occult a star as seen from various Pacific Islands and California/Baja California on June 23. On June 27, Pluto occults a star from many of the same islands, and its small moon Hydra occults the same star as seen from Australia. We are trying to look at Pluto and Charon from about a dozen telescopes, including two portable 14-inch telescopes

Pluto, Charon, Nix, and Hydra as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2005.
Source: newswatch.nationalgeographic.com...

Nix was the Greek goddess of darkness and night, and the mother of Charon, the ferryman who transported the souls of the dead across the River Styx and into the god Pluto's Underworld. Hydra was a multiheaded serpent killed by Hercules. The names were chosen in part because their combined initials (N and H) stand for the New Horizons spacecraft, which will visit Pluto and its moons, and uncover more about them, in 2015

Gotta love those names

Love this stuff, the universe is never dull. Keep em coming

Dazzling....
Thanks anon, these threads never disappoint.

My favorite images from space are massive nebulas and one of my favorite nebulas is the Carina nebula featuring the 'Finger of God', or a big F-U, or maybe the inspiration for the guy that invented the sports event 'big #1 foam finger' thing we see everywhere.



The area where the finger lies is known as the Keyhole nebula.



3 light years tall!



For the life of me when the view is panned out I can never find the finger, just can't put my finger on it.





I had to look up why the Carina Nebula was so named, because the word is used in a number of different settings. In this case it was because the Carina constellation is located in the keel part of the Argo Navis constellation.
link to hi rez.

reply to post by Illustronic


Man, TOO FUNNY. Are you serious?

The whole set up that you put up is amazing in itself.

Glad you folks are liking the thread.

I love to look at them late at night in a dark room on my big screen. With some ATS radio music on-when I can.

the first pic you posted illusions reminds me of a super hero starting to fly and someone catching the bottom of his 'figure' as he begins to take flight.

good stuff