Hubble's Hidden Treasures - Incredible views of the Universe

Sometimes I wonder if this is all clever CGI. Theres lots of photos... (Not that I really care)

Wow I count 42 stars.... and that's just for the OP..... almost as many as in the pictures.

Is this what you get for copying and pasting pictures that are manipulated and not real.

The UFO forums are going to be fun then.

i look at these images and others similar and my breath is taken away. what an awesome display of power and grandeur.

it is impossible for me to wrap my mind around the fact that we are part of all of this.
yet, somehow, we are.
it would indeed be wonderful to be able to 'hop' around and explore outside of our 'quarantine'.

thank you for posting this.

Originally posted by jazzguy
doctored up or not????

i think hubble mucking around with images is just insulting.

you guys will believe anything lol

So where do you work as an Astronomer?

Where did you get your degree?

Oh wait, you're just a layman thinking that your opinion has any relevance to the professionals.

If you want to composite multiple non or barely visible wavelengths together, how do you suggest they do it without assigning colours? Please, we're all waiting for your expertise and knowledge!

Originally posted by RiverRunsFree
Wow I count 42 stars.... and that's just for the OP..... almost as many as in the pictures.

Is this what you get for copying and pasting pictures that are manipulated and not real.

The UFO forums are going to be fun then.

You realise that every photo is manipulated right? Your camera itself does a LOT of manipulation on any photo you take. It demosaics the image, then does hot pixel passes, then a denoise algorithm, then compression.

So much for the idea of a non-manipulated photo!

Blazing Dragon vs Man at the heart of Orion (From Hubble)

I like pictures like these. I used to look at the pictures of 'Astronomy Picture Of The Day' on a regular basis, but have been neglecting the treat lately as I am busy with researching things. I suppose I could quit coming here but this site has given me more ideas for research than any other I have gone to.

Originally posted by Klassified
Awesome OP! S&F.

Sometimes I wonder if a small portion of what we're seeing are actually sentient beings, but our understanding of the universe is so limited, we fail to recognize life that is beyond our perception of it.

man i totally agree with you......i have a strong felling, based on some things that i know about cosmos, that per ex .......stars are a life form..........i know, dont laugh.......but just analize their behaviour.....they react to each other, to their surroundings....they have the capacity of reproduction, just like trees, and they polinate the universe with life, just trees does here...........they are a macrocelular organism.......think about this...........

Originally posted by FreeMindedMason
Sometimes I wonder if this is all clever CGI.

hubble images and other imagery from observatories of any kind is ALWAYS some sort of CGI by default.
This is because the way your eyes would see it, these images wouldn't show up the details required in understanding what is up there.

You can imagine taking an image means 'collecting a dataset' from a particular spot in a sky with calibrated sensors. These datasets contain a bulkload of data which must be calculated to get an image.
Its possible to calculate it that way that it would look like if you would see it with your own eyes in natural colors.

Now the challenge on this competition was to examine these datasets and derive images from it never seen before, possibly giving scientists new chances in discovering something.

And thanks to the OP its just great to find it here.

just a few posts later someone starts ranting about this way doing astronomy and the cost.
well...
We are privileged to have such a technology in our constant try to explain the universe.
And as we are privileged, we as a nation make use of this privilege and share knowledge with others.
Knowledge that has been collected by calibrated instruments being presented in pictures like these and articles being published in magazines and not knowledge that comes from hearsay cause our elders simply knew it better.

if someone would ask me to decide wether to donate for a religious organisation or for building a telescope,
i would go for the telescope, because it creates something trustworthy, creates jobs and opportunities for the younger generations to work in an interesting job.

so CGI .. yes of course .. people working hard to make it as accurate and usable as possible

Originally posted by OutonaLimb
All 'Hubble' images are computer generated. Just another massive, billions draining
NASA con-job, which millions (billions?) worldwide insist on being completely sucked in by.
Not this fool though!

What utter nonsense. You do know that Hubble isn't the only telescope in the world right? There are telescopes all over the world run by different countries and organizations. Images from Hubble can be confirmed by so many other sources (by both professional and amateur astronomers). So is every photo from every telescope a fake then?

Originally posted by jaws1975
It's like mental push-ups trying to fathom the size and scope of those pics, also did anyone notice the creepy ghost face in the first prize winner's pic?

The more I look at it there are loads of 'faces'

Very cool pics.

Originally posted by RiverRunsFree
Wow I count 42 stars.... and that's just for the OP..... almost as many as in the pictures.

Is this what you get for copying and pasting pictures that are manipulated and not real.

The UFO forums are going to be fun then.

If it's gonna be so fun, then go have fun. Yes, its called user generated content. Most of the stuff on this site is... Stuff from other sites. Its true that its not that difficult to find interesting content on the internet. People come here because not everyone has time to look all over the place and they know that if they come here, most of the interesting stories and stuff like hubble contests will already be here.

And seriously, I hope you do have fun and get lots of stars in the UFOs and Aliens forum. If you bring interesting content I'm sure people will appreciate it. But, your comment kind of confuses me... Stars aren't worth money or anything. It's just somebody's way of saying "hey, cool, I think this is neat". So, does it really surprise you that people find these pictures neat? I think they're pretty awesome. But, even if I wasn't amused by them, I could certainly understand how other people might.

For example, some people are incredibly fascinated by pictures of bugs. You know, insects and stuff. I think they are weird and gross and creepy. But if someone here made a thread about a contest of pictures of bugs, I certainly wouldn't barge in there with some kind of condescending attitude making fun of everyone who gave it a star or flag. I would just go and read something else or do something else. In your case, you might just get to work having fun with UFO pictures.

Seriously, dude, have a blast... But please don't try to make us feel like we did something wrong by enjoying some photos, minding our own business, and not hurting or disrespecting anyone in the process.