my desktop is a hubble image

I love the deep field stuff too

that looks kind of like a constellation for cthulhu

... tesco's pick.

aww :( i didn't know that!! but yeah, hubble's been up there for an extremely long time. :O

Amazing that they would let something so useful fall into disservice.

probably because it's expensive and doesn't kill anyone or blow anything up czar.

that deep field stuff is crazy, i don't know how you could look at that and say with a straight face that you don't believe that there is not intelligent life somewhere in the far reaches of space

to me, those images are proof enough

i like this one because it's the side view of a galaxy.

eck sorry it's so huge

wow!

This is all just Chuck Anderson's more experimental photoshop work.

Whoa!

it really sucks to hear that about the Hubble telescope. it has provided so many rich and amazing images. i'm sure something bigger and better will roll around soon enough.

this isn't a hubble picture, however, it's from the Cassini mission to Saturn. you MUST click the photo to get to the high-res version.



found here.

it could fall back into the earth's atmosphere as soon as 2010

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Ace, it's coming back to us, so what's the problem? We just put it up there on the next flight.

I'm pretty sure that they are going to be sending up some people in 2008 to upgrade the Hubble.

shit mcpoodle...that sumabitch NEEDS to be seen big...images like that honestly, almost bring me to tears.

maybe i'm just a sentimental fool

two galaxies colliding

they have a routine maintenence visit planned for 2008 Khol, they HAVE to do those every few years

Tonteau, if it falls, it's not going back up...they have talked about sending a mission up for the sole purpose of "apprehending" it and bringing it back manually so it could be preserved and displayed in the Smithsonian...if it falls on its own, it'll be destroyed in re-entry.

Yeah, I just asked my father and he says that they are sending people up in 2008 and that will extend the life of Hubble to about 2013.

It'll be sad when it's no longer up there, though.

Oops, I forgot to refresh.

Dan, i just looked at that high res version of that Saturn pic and holy SHIT, i think I saw God in that.

tesco, i just put that galaxy's colliding pic as my desktop

also, before this blog finally dies down, i think it's appropriate that I post a small picture of the old girl herself



god bless ya

yeah. that saturn picture is great. it was taken in line with the sun from behind saturn. that was the best way to capture those very faint rings

i tell ya, there's a blog around here about dream jobs and if i was honestly a smarter, more motivated man, i would have LOVED to have been an astronomer more than anything

wow.. hubble is old school to the maxx!

i'm pretty sure some of those pictures are of the inside of my dome.

Hubble is neat (well once they fixed fucking up the mirrors =p)

however servicing it is **dangerous as well as expensive.

missions to Hubble are out of range of the ISS if something goes wrong w/ the Shuttle

it is my understanding however that a final repair/servicing mission is scheduled for 2008 (apparently a 2nd shuttle will be standing by in case it needs to be launched to rescue the crew of the other shuttle should something go wrong.

the shuttle is pretty god damn old at this point.. and NASA seems (rightfully) reluctant to send it up without a option to meet up with the ISS should the shuttle get damaged on launch.

the final mission should keep the Hubble telescope (hopefully) operational until 2013 when the replacement of the Hubble (James Webb space telescope ) hopefully can be launched

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope

thanks for the info maddingo! i honestly didn't know much about the James Webb, allthough I had heard about it...so that was a cool heads up.

sounds like the James Webb is going to pwn. I love this from the wiki:

Mission
The JWST's primary scientific mission has four main components: to search for light from the first stars and galaxies which formed in the Universe after the Big Bang; to study the formation and evolution of galaxies; to understand the formation of stars and planetary systems; and to study planetary systems and the origins of life.

Fuck yeah

i'm kind of exited now

i really do hope they do something to make sure we get the Hubble back in once piece though

I wonder what the technological limits of telescopes are. Will it eventually be possible to get images like the saturn one, but of planets in other solar systems?

well, the hubble space telescope is orbiting earth. the reason that we have the picture of saturn is because of the cassini mission: we sent a telescope out towards saturn to orbit that planet. i think there are similar missions for other planets (specifically mars)

hubble takes shots of other planets too

http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/html/opo0124a.html

i really hope we put a man on mars during my lifetime, it used to seem like a certainty...now...not so much