181–190 of 196 posts
Either way I was waiting for this photo. Ever since I learned about the Webb telescope, I've been eager to see its take on the Pillars, which is one of my favorite photos ever. It did not disappoint.
I compressed the full PNG via Guetzli (Google's high-quality jpg compressor) which took a couple of hours (now 15MB at 84% quality), so here it is: https://github.com/dvasdekis/images/raw/master/pillars.jpg and https://mega.nz/file/BTdWSb6b#NHK9lAtGMIr1UxabLiC174ZvJWo7KS... and https://www.mediafire.com/file/n0qjxogsp203z0w/pillars.jpg/f... The original crashed Windows when set as desktop background, but this one wor…
Anyone else noticing the fairly common circularish structures in the top left of the image? It's like an uncanny number of stars are placed in circular arrangements. Is this due to some gravitational lensing effects around some of the objects in that area (some of which are visible)?
It's probably more likely due to gravity causing stars/dust to drift towards each other, causing clumps and voids.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's a stacked series of exposures adding up to 36 minutes of the Eagle nebula (of which Pillars of Creation is a zoomed in segment) https://noctilove.co.uk/portfolio/m16-eagle-nebula/ About what you'd see from a 16 inch telescope in a superb dark sky location. A red smudge with hints of finer detail.
Thank you. If I was in a spaceship at a much closer distance to the object than I am right now, would I be able to see the dust and the shape similar to what we see on the photos? Or is this all invisible to the human eye?
Given its size the density is probably pretty low, though. If you got right up next to it you wouldn't see much, in the same way a fog bank gets less visible when you walk towards it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The subject of this particular image is part of the Eagle Nebula in our own galaxy. So it's near enough to be gravitationally bound and not subject to the redshift of cosmic inflation.
Is it possible to calculate how much redshift it has had relative to us from the beginning (or at any point?)?
Which is a roundabout way of also saying: the nebula and Earth are in a gravitaionally bound system (the Milky Way) where gravity overpowers whatever it is that's causing cosmic inflation. So even if their orbital motions result in a redshift as currently viewed from Earth, the amount of redshift contributed by inflation (if any) is undetectable.
That said, if you know the orbits of two bodies, and can predict their motion relative to one another, you could calculate the expected red or blue shift, as viewed from one of those bodies, at any point in their orbits. :)
Edit: missing words
I compressed the full PNG via Guetzli (Google's high-quality jpg compressor) which took a couple of hours (now 15MB at 84% quality), so here it is: https://github.com/dvasdekis/images/raw/master/pillars.jpg and https://mega.nz/file/BTdWSb6b#NHK9lAtGMIr1UxabLiC174ZvJWo7KS... and https://www.mediafire.com/file/n0qjxogsp203z0w/pillars.jpg/f... The original crashed Windows when set as desktop background, but this one wor…
I compressed the full PNG via Guetzli (Google's high-quality jpg compressor) which took a couple of hours (now 15MB at 84% quality), so here it is: https://github.com/dvasdekis/images/raw/master/pillars.jpg and https://mega.nz/file/BTdWSb6b#NHK9lAtGMIr1UxabLiC174ZvJWo7KS... and https://www.mediafire.com/file/n0qjxogsp203z0w/pillars.jpg/f... The original crashed Windows when set as desktop background, but this one wor…
> The original crashed Windows when set as desktop background, but this one works. It's better to scale it down to the display resolution instead if that's what you want to use it for.
This, on the other hand, still looks stunning.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thank you. If I was in a spaceship at a much closer distance to the object than I am right now, would I be able to see the dust and the shape similar to what we see on the photos? Or is this all invisible to the human eye?
Sure. It's a physical object, reflecting broadband light from nearby stars. The colors would be different, and you might not see the same fine structure without filters, like how the Sun looks very different through a Calcium K line filter https://thelonelyphoton.com/2022/01/08/solar-imaging/ Given its size the density is probably pretty low, though. If you got right up next to it you wouldn't see much, in the same w…
With so many colorized photos of space objects and so many artist impressions, I wasn’t sure whether space is just a black void to the human eye or we are capable of seeing the gorgeous colors of different nebulae and such.