Posted on June 8, 2010 by Michael
Hubble images have helped to detect minute movements in relatively new stars previously expected to have settled down by now.
The discovery, reported in June 2 in Astrophysical Journal Letters, may cause astronomers to rethink how clusters form and evolve. The new measurements will help astronomers to develop benchmarks of cluster evolution and better estimate the masses of other star clusters. Many such measurements are based on the stars having reached a more settled state known as virial equilibrium. If the stars haven’t reached this state, the mass of the cluster will be overestimated.
Filed under: Astronomy/Cosmology/Physics | Tagged: hubble, NGC3603, Stellar Evolution | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 1, 2010 by Michael
When I choose Hubble images to put on FTSOS, I specifically try to avoid the Crab Nebula image. It’s just so common, so frequent. It’s almost a stereotype in a way, at least to me. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if I’ve slipped up actually posted it in the past. But I was just rethinking it. Stereotype, cliche, overused, too common, too frequent: none of that matter. It’s a frickin’ cool image. That’s all the justification I need.
Filed under: Astronomy/Cosmology/Physics | Tagged: Crab Nebula, hubble, Hubble images, NASA, space | 2 Comments »
Posted on May 30, 2010 by Michael
I mean, there are only billions and billions of these. I can see how it might be reasonable to presume each one is empty.
If you’re arrogant, that is.
Filed under: Astronomy/Cosmology/Physics | Tagged: Galaxy, hubble, Hubble image, Spiral galaxy | Leave a comment »
Posted on May 21, 2010 by Michael
Hubble is great and all, but it’s better in a bundle.
In order: Hubble, WISE, VISTA. And no, not the OS.
Filed under: Astronomy/Cosmology/Physics | Tagged: Astronomy, hubble, Photos, VISTA, WISE | 3 Comments »
Posted on May 18, 2010 by Michael
Posted on May 1, 2010 by Michael
Ever since my post on the topless march in Farmington the blog traffic has been up markedly. In the 7 or so hours my post was up for the 30th, it garnered me 329 hits. Today it has been 850 (with 6 hours to go). I even received an email asking me to forward the uncensored pictures to some pro-topless web master. I’m not sure why anyone would think I’m the go-to guy on that one. Find a UMF student and ask*. In fact, one UMF student (who was not there herself) forwarded this (censored) Facebook album to me, and I didn’t even ask. I’m sure a little sleuthing will turn up all those fun pictures.
My favorite part of the increase in traffic, though, is not the hits to that one post. It’s actually the increase in hits to my Photography page that really tickles me. None of those pictures have anything remotely to due with any topless march. Hell, most of them aren’t even that topical.
If anyone is wondering about the big spike, it was for the 20th anniversary of Hubble.
*UMF didn’t sponsor the event, but the only reason the whole thing was held in Farmington was because of the college.
Filed under: News, Politics and Social | Tagged: Farmington, hubble, Maine, Topless, Topless march in Farmington, UMF, Uncensored pictures | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 23, 2010 by Michael
My favorite thing about showing up 3rd for searches of “Hubble” in Google image is that whenever Hubble is in the news, I know it pretty quickly thanks to the sharp increase in hits. (Right now the third result is some website that has swiped my Hubble image, but it still links back to FTSOS.) For instance, tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the launch of Hubble.
The universe was a different-looking place 20 years ago. The most powerful optical telescopes on Earth could see only halfway across the cosmos. Estimates for the age of the universe disagreed by a big margin. Supermassive black holes were only suspected to be the powerhouses behind a rare zoo of energetic phenomena seen at great distances. Einstein’s cosmological constant, a hypothesized repulsive property of space, was merely a skeleton in the astrophysics closet.
But astronomy was kicked-started into fast-forward on April 24th, 1990 when NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope left the blurry skies of Earth for the stars. Tucked away inside the space shuttle Discovery’s cargo bay, the telescope was set free into low earth orbit on April 25th.
Of course, this naturally means eye candy on FTSOS.
Filed under: Astronomy/Cosmology/Physics | Tagged: 20th Anniversary, Astronomy, hubble, Launch of Hubble, Photos, Space images | 3 Comments »
Posted on March 15, 2010 by Michael
A short film about the history of Hubble and the images it captures – called “Hubble 3D” – premiered this past weekend.
But here are the money shots: The telescope’s new Wide Field Camera and infrared eye can look at– and shoot — stars, gas and dust 2.5 million light years out. Taking those photos and using advanced computer visualization, the film whisks viewers on scientifically realistic flights through time and space.
One rushes at, yes, warp speed (actually much faster) past the star Sirius, 50 trillion miles from Earth, to peer into the nursery of developing galaxies in the star cluster known as Orion’s Belt. A journey through our galaxy, the Milky Way, to neighboring Andromeda, reveals 2,000 galaxies and a massive black hole.
The article says Leonardo DiCaprio “ably” narrates the 43 minute film. Mayhaps one journalist doesn’t much like the actor.
The film is slated for wider Imax release for this coming weekend and then an even larger release in August. While it would be nice if everyone liked science for, well, the sake of science, there’s nothing wrong with a little eye candy. Especially in 3D.
Filed under: Astronomy/Cosmology/Physics | Tagged: hubble, Hubble 3D, IMAX, Leonardo DiCaprio, NASA | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 9, 2010 by Michael
I don’t know any details on this one and it isn’t recent, but it sure is purdy.
Filed under: Astronomy/Cosmology/Physics | Tagged: hubble, Hubble fotos, Hubble images, Hubble Photos | Leave a comment »
Posted on February 24, 2010 by Michael
While my traffic has been way up since the Andreas Moritz incident, I know it isn’t going to stay that way. That’s why it’s especially disappointing that my Hubble contest post no longer shows up on Google images on the first page. It had been there for quite a long time, artificially boosting my stats, which in turn did raise the profile of FTSOS, if even only slightly. But since WordPress took me down for a couple days, that image has vanished from Google images. I suppose the best I can do is link back to it from time to time. More importantly, I suppose I can start making a few more posts about Hubble and Hubble news now.
But other than one of those slow news day stories, there doesn’t seem to be much out there. So in lieu of a real post, here is some eye candy.
1987 Supernova
Filed under: Astronomy/Cosmology/Physics | Tagged: Google, hubble, Hubble images, Hubble Space, SN 1987A, space, Supernova, Telescope | 3 Comments »
For the Sake of Science 
