Comments on: Hubble Does Independence Day With Stars and Stripe

By: geokstr

geokstr — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:19:36 +0000

Greg:

The "statistic" I used was meant to be a rhetorical comment, not a scientificall accurate statement. However, take away a few of those "9's" and it wouldn't be far off, say 99.99% instead.

Remember, the "sciences" as disciplines of study are not very old, and the scientists who have gone before had to slide rules to do the same calculations that are done by the millions per second in modern computers. The "personal computer" is only about 20 years old, after all. The computer on board the Mariner spacecraft in the 1970's that took all those beautiful pictures only had a 16K memory.

Our knowledge is growing so fast that our brains are not even evolving fast enough to handle it. Knowledge overload was hypothesized to be a problem for human beings decades ago, and it has only gotten exponentially faster since.

By: basic math still works

basic math still works — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:21:03 +0000

> 20 million miles per hour for over 1000 years?? That doesn't sound rightâ€¦

Well, let's see….

the tangent of 30 arcminutes (0.5 degree) times 7000 light years is about 61 light years across, pretty close to the 60 they mention. So far so good.

60 light years is roughly 5.75e17 meters

Over 1000 years, that takes an average velocity of 6.6e10 meters per hour, or 40.8e6 miles/hr.

GIven that it is going out from the center, divide that by two, and you get 20.4 million miles per hour.

Sounds right to me.

By: Internyet

Internyet — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:21:08 +0000

20 million miles per hour for over 1000 years?? That doesn't sound right…

By: justin

justin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:45:30 +0000

go hubble!!! if no one wants it when it done i will have it…they can put it in my backyard and connect an eye piece to it

happy ID4 from Australia!!

By: IKE:) the Alien lifeform

IKE:) the Alien lifeform — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:03:10 +0000

Happy independence Day, American carbon copies;)
Hubble was/is great, But Chnadra, Spitzer and the rest of 'em are great as well. Cassini and Huygens fantastic, not to forget the Voyager series… I wonder where they are now?
I further wonder, if the US will take another 20 years, which will make it 50 years + to visit our moon… Shame on those politicians which have wasted 30+ years. A moon base would be the perfect starting point for all future SPACE EXPLORATION, if we combine ALL efforts, and include the next force, Commercialization. We must find another habitable world… hopefully not to repeat the mistakes of the past 500 years.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:43:12 +0000

geokstr

"99.99999999% of the scientists that have ever lived in the entire history of the human race – are STILL ALIVE"

This cannot be true! Are you really saying that there are 100 million scientists alive now for every 1 that's died in the past?

Thats the trouble with statistics… 99 out of 100 times they are a load of rubbish

By: Jo_She

Jo_She — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:35:16 +0000

Venus is not visible as a disk to the naked eye. How then, could an Egyptian astronomer describe the object as 2-3 times larger than the disc of Venus? (Three times zero is still zero.)

By: geokstr

geokstr — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:29:29 +0000

Geez, that is 7,000 light years away, and captured with the same detail as the rings of Saturn from a few hundred miles by Cassini. And the telescopes on the drawing board now are supposed to make Hubble seem like a pair on cheap binoculars in comparison.

The thing I regret most about getting on in age is that I may miss the unbelievably awesome things we will learn about the universe, from the macro down to the micro, in the next 100 years or so.

My favorite statistic of all time is that 99.99999999% of the scientists that have ever lived in the entire history of the human race – are STILL ALIVE.

Think about that. No wonder our technology is leaping ahead exponentially every year. Now if we can only prevent ourselves from blowing up the planet in one way or another first…

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:45:35 +0000

Incredible and very beautiful.

But are the close-up images flipped? (in the y axis)

And happy Independence day to from Britain!

By: Yael Dragwyla

Yael Dragwyla — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:16:46 +0000

LLDIAZ — if we get out there fast enough, maybe we can snag Hubble and tow it to the Moon, then bring it down to the Moon's surface via a space tether, and put it into a museum there so that people from generations to come can see and appreciate it. Hubble, you go!!!

By: prospero

prospero — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:33:30 +0000

Awesome.
Happy Independence Day America

By: Astrofiend

Astrofiend — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:20:33 +0000

Stunning.

By: R2K

R2K — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:29:34 +0000

Best telescope. EVER.

Interesting images and info… but why are the schmidt and chandra images the same color?

That kinda makes it hard to tell the diff.

By: Aodhhan

Aodhhan — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:27:16 +0000

What a great close up using the ACS! I would have thought it would look a bit more grainy and transparent. If only the orange galaxies were larger to add a bit more to it. The Hubble still amazes!

By: LLDIAZ

LLDIAZ — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:26:24 +0000

hubble keeps rockin on !!!
The moon base should be named that as well in rememberence of such a fine machine…

By: Angela

Angela — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:48:08 +0000

I absolutely love Hubble. The images it brings us never ceases to amaze me; even if I don't always completely understand the science behind it. To me, the how's and why's don't always matter. I just gaze at the images in awe.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:47:27 +0000

It's highly reminscent of Saturn's F Ring. One gets the impression that there is flow along the length of the structure, and there is a hint of helicity in the bright strands.