Happy 20th, Hubble!

[Cephalopod]

Tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of the Hubble telescope being lofted into the sky.



The Official Hubble-site (http://hubblesite.org/hubble_20/)
In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched into its orbit around the Earth. Over the past two decades, the world has followed Hubble's saga, watching as image after image revealed another part of the cosmos that would otherwise be invisible to our eyes. We absorbed the discoveries that the pictures sparked and witnessed the astronaut missions that brought the telescope new technology and extended its life.

This year Hubble achieves its 20th anniversary, renewed and equipped by the latest servicing mission for many more years of astronomy. More than 30,000 objects have come under the telescope's gaze, each observation slotting another piece into the cosmic puzzle of the universe. Join us as we celebrate one of the world's most successful observatories, even now changing the face of astronomy, its final legacy still in the making.


Here's a nice blog piece from Phil Platt (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/04/23/happy-20th-anniversary-hubble/), an astronomer who worked on Hubble for about 10 years, reposting his '10 things you didn't know about Hubble'. A good read.

http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2004-27-a-web.jpg
The Cat's Eye Nebula, one of the first planetary nebulae discovered, also has one of the most complex forms known to this kind of nebula. Eleven rings, or shells, of gas make up the Cat's Eye. (http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/entire/pr2004027a/)

http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-1997-18-a-web.jpg
Fireworks Near a Black Hole in the Core of Seyfert Galaxy NGC 4151 (http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/exotic/pr1997018a/)

Happy birthday, HST!

[4a6c1]

My life changed when I realized I could have these things canvased and hung on my wall.

:yes:

[Kuyuk]

You then could only get laid by these guys?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3224/2996829947_fb431a94a9.jpg

[Cephalopod]

http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2010-13-a-web_print.jpg (http://www.hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2010/13/image/a/)



This craggy fantasy mountaintop enshrouded by wispy clouds looks like a bizarre landscape from Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" or a Dr. Seuss book, depending on your imagination. The NASA Hubble Space Telescope image, which is even more dramatic than fiction, captures the chaotic activity atop a three-light-year-tall pillar of gas and dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars. The pillar is also being assaulted from within, as infant stars buried inside it fire off jets of gas that can be seen streaming from towering peaks.

Scorching radiation and fast winds (streams of charged particles) from super-hot newborn stars in the nebula are shaping and compressing the pillar, causing new stars to form within it. Streamers of hot ionized gas can be seen flowing off the ridges of the structure, and wispy veils of gas and dust, illuminated by starlight, float around its towering peaks. The denser parts of the pillar are resisting being eroded by radiation much like a towering butte in Utah's Monument Valley withstands erosion by water and wind.


MOTHERFUCKING NEBULAS! HOW THE FUCK DO THEY WORK!?

[LMingrone]

http://www.imax.com/hubble/

going to see this, for sure.

Edit: Here's a Youtube link to the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0TOqhYrU8o

[Celephais]

My life changed when I realized I could have these things canvased and hung on my wall.

:yes:
Do you use a service for this? I'd be pretty interested in one of these myself...

[Celephais]

http://www.imax.com/hubble/

going to see this, for sure.

Edit: Here's a Youtube link to the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0TOqhYrU8o
Whoa, thanks man!

[Cephalopod]

http://www.imax.com/hubble/

going to see this, for sure.

Edit: Here's a Youtube link to the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0TOqhYrU8o

This looks incredible. Thanks for sharing this, I hadn't seen it.

[Cephalopod]

Went to see the IMAX Hubble 3D thing on Saturday with my kids. It was great, and I majorly nerded out.

[AnticorRifling]

Yeah when they showed the preview for hubble iMAX when we went to see how to train your dragon I was like "Oh yes we're coming back"! The boys are going to love that.

[Tisket]

You then could only get laid by these guys?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3224/2996829947_fb431a94a9.jpg

Is that supposed to be a deterrent? He's sexy.

[Celephais]

http://www.imax.com/hubble/

going to see this, for sure.

Edit: Here's a Youtube link to the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0TOqhYrU8o

FINALLY was able to go see this last night, I really enjoyed it, I love that sort of stuff.