The 10 Strangest (Real) Things in Space
The 10 Strangest (Real) Things in Space
Jul 25
I recently saw a
Digg article which linked to a space.com page about the
10 Strangest Things in Space. All but 2 of the items were not pictures at all but computer simulations, or artists impressions. So here to correct this injustice to phenomena everywhere I present the
REAL 10 Strangest Things in Space - or at least in my opinion. Feel free to suggest any others in the comments.
V838 Monoceroti Expansion (Hubble)
It wasn't anything interesting until it happened but the star V838 Monoceroti, which had simply sat in obscurity, flared up in 2002 to become 600,000 more luminous than our own Sun. It didn't take long for the star to fade back into the darkness but the Hubble Space Telescope managed to get quite a few pictures of it during its active phase. (
Click for animated version)
In this series of images you can see how the star's outer layers were first expelled and then cut away by the powerful radiation from the star. The event was made even more interesting by the fact that a '
light echo' was seen. During the expansion the object appeared to expand faster than the speed of light - the effect was however merely an astronomical optical illusion.
The Egg Nebula (Hubble)
Also known as CRL2688, the Egg Nebula shows a pair of mysterious 'searchlights' bursting out from a dense cocoon of dust surrounding a hidden, Sun-like star. We see the light escaping in the directions where the cocoon is thinner. Objects like CRL2688 are rare because they are in a phase of their evolution that is short-lived. Images like this one are very important to understanding how stars like our Sun will ultimately die.
The Sun in UV (SOHO)
[quicktime width="400" height="400"]http://www.orbitingfrog.com/blog/movies/SuninUV.mp4[/quicktime]
The surface of the Sun is far more active than most people would think. This ultraviolet video taken by NASA's SOHO spacecraft gives brilliant detail. It allows us to see one full revolution of the Sun on its axis, which normally takes about 25 days. In this video you can make out large flares erupting from the surface and the striking magnetic loops that seem to whirl about them as they go. (
Full 512x512 MPEG Here)
Red Square Nebula Nebula (Hale/Keck)
Discovered in 2007, this ruby-like nebula may be the result of two interacting stars. If one star is dying then the material from it may be dragged into a disc around the orbits of both objects. Material can then only escape from the system along the poles of the disc, resulting in two cones leading out of the stars. When viewed from the edge these cones seem like two triangles. Here the system is seen in the infrared. Structures like this are rarely seen in nebula but there is in fact a
Red Rectangle Nebula which is less symmetric but still quite interesting to look at.
Abell 39 (NOAO)
Here we see an almost perfect planetary nebula that sits about 7,000 light years away in the constellation Hercules. The dot at the centre is the original star, which - as it died - released the expanding gas shell also seen clearly here. The ghostly appearance of the shell is due to the blue-green filter used to take the image, which picks out the oxygen emitted light at 500.7nm.
Saturn's Rings (Cassini)
This marvelous panoramic view was created by combining a total of 165 images taken by the Cassini wide-angle camera over nearly three hours on Sept. 15, 2006. Cassini was sheltered from the Sun's glare by positioning itself behind Saturn. Ring structures are revealed here in detail as they brighten substantially at viewing angles where the Sun is almost directly behind the objects. These observations allowed Cassini to detected two new faint rings.
The Horsehead Nebula Swallowed Something (SCUBA)
Observers used the JCMT submillimetre telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii to take this image of
the familiar Horsehead Nebula, who's outline can be seen here. When observed at 850 microns, we are seeing the cold dust at temperatures close to absolute zero. This dust is deep inside the optical nebula normally seen, which is transparent at this wavelength. It seems from the image that the Horse has swallowed a 'lozenge' which is in fact a region of dense dust that may be collapsing under gravity. In fact this could be a star system in the making.
Gomez's Hamburger (Hubble)
Arturo Gomez found this odd object in 1985 and it became known as Gomez's Hamburger for obvious reasons. It is actually a proto-planetary nebula, an earlier version of Abell 39 perhaps. The curves of light (the bun) are reflecting light from the star which is being obscured by a thick band of dust (the burger). The whole thing is only only a fraction of a light year across and located 10,000 light years away in Sagittarius.
The Solar Spectrum (NOAO)
If you could catch a rainbow and put it under a microscope you would see that it was not a continuous blend of colours. Along the width of it would be seen, scattered irregularly, dark patches. Atoms and molecules in the Sun's atmosphere pick out specific frequencies of light and absorb them, diminishing their intensity by comparison. This images shows the spectrum of light from the Sun stretched out to make these absorption lines visible. We use the reverse of the idea (emission lines) when we make coloured lights. For instance, we excite sodium atoms to emit a signature orange light in street lamps. In this image you can see two prominent dark bands in the yellow-orange section which are the absorption due to sodium.
Update to This Entry
The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared (Spitzer)
By looking at things in different wavelengths we can see much more than meets the eye. This image is a perfect example. Just as with the Horsehead image above we are seeing cooler material. This time it is dust in the Sombrero galaxy. The red ring is a thick band of dust encircling the whole galaxy. In the optical, this dust ring is what gives the Sombrero its distinctive black, obscuring line.
Oddities in the Orion Nebula (Hubble)
Deep within high resolution images of the Orion Nebula taken by Hubble we can see dark blobs. When you take a closer look you can see that these are like little flattened blobs. Some show a dim, red glow at their centres, others are just dark. These are proto solar-systems.
The red glowing is a protostars attempting to burst through and the dark disks are thick dust regions where one day planets may form. 6 billion years ago, this is what our Solar System may have looked from very far away.
James Collins:
Do you say it’s “beyond doubt” so you can get away with claiming that while not having to name these people, who these “believers” are and why these “believers” admire those sources to to point of believing what they say for no other reason than they say it?
I think that’s got to be the tightest circular argument I’ve seen in ages.
Thanks for the beautiful and intriguing pictures! I’m 71 y/o and still in absolute awe of God’s creation…..all I can say is, WOW!!!
Beautiful pictures! Thanks for taking the time to put all of this together!
@Steve: I can’t believe in a deity that would deliberately lie to us, which is what your statement would seem to require.
@James Collins: That comment seemed to come out of left field, and is perhaps more appropriate to the talk.origins usenet group than this blog. There’s plenty of folks there who have actually studied real life biology, instead of astronomy, who would be happy to pick up your gauntlet.
@various: Sumtymes pepul kahnt spel or use gooder grammor, git ovur it.
This is absolutely fantastic. Totally mind boggling.
Great photos!
It seems the Intelligent Designer Guy has a sense of humor. Who created the Intelligent Designer anyway? Or is it possible an Intelligent Designer can exist without a creator? If God exists, and if God has no creator, then that is proof something can exist without a creator, and the universe also needs no creator.
Lovely pictures,
well done, space.com isn’t perfect after all! :D
Thank you for being big enough to post opposing views. I doubt you would have received the same courtsey. As time goes by, more and more of us regular citizens are learning to trust our own intellegence, and, perhaps someday, people will stop being brainwashed from birth with the nonsence that ranges from Santa Clause to Our Heavenly Father.
To those who want to “see” only real images. There is almost no such thing. The “artist’s conceptions” are _usually_ mapping the Electro Magnetic Spectrum we can’t see (radio waves on up) to the “Visible spectrum.” You can legitimately argue how “red” radio waves should be, etc., but accept we are seeing what we could never see with our own “eyes.”
To the site owner, we may disagree about which ten, but still agree these are *amazing sights,” to be appreciated.
The images were very startling and very beautiful. Thank you.
The first thing we must see is that we are very small. Being small, may we not reach out to others in a spirit of acceptance rather than in conflict? This origins controversy is not a new problem. Being afraid that your understanding is not universally accepted as full truth leads to rejection and exclusion. These attitudes do not befit small beings.
LOVE the pics. How cool of you to share them with everyone. Just awesome.
Well done you for being so broad-minded and tolerant of those who choose to sit in judgement of you. Your blog is interesting and yes, there were mistakes, but they did not detract from the smazing photos you had taken the time to post. I wonder when your “critics” have ever done anything so interesting?
I linked to this from Dr. Mercola’s site. Gorgeous pictures! I will click back to look at the sun, but I enjoyed the others. Truly amazing. It should let us realize that all the bullsh*t going on in the world would mean nothing if we exterminate each other. Our world exploding or devoid of life might be a pretty picture but it the greater scheme of things, it wouldn’t matter.
Astrogeek- Ha Ha on thuh speling!
as my granddaughter would say…”Look what GOD has done!!!!”
The photos were fantastic and beautiful. Thank you very much for taking the time to photograph and put them on the web for all of us to see. I’m sorry I missed the misspelled words, I was too busy looking at the pictures.
Awe inpiring pics, I’m totally fascinated with space and images like these keep me coming back for more! Thanks
These pictures are simply put in one word, beautiful.
All the more reason to acclerate the NASA, and private space programs, so one day our childrens children will be able to look at more pictures from space in places like Alpha Centuri and say, “I wonder what’s in that star system…”
Peace,
Blake
Great pictures!!
Cool video, that of the sun…
But why the 10 strangest??
Thats galactic physics and we can only realize how unique (and tiny) we are
I think you have done a fantastic job.Wonderful of you to share with everyone.
Some people are small minded and pick at anything.(Maox/Ken D)
I personally have answered more questions for free than any doctor in the history of the Internet. Yet it never ceases to amaze me the things poeple will say, under a non deplume, while hiding behind their computer monitors. Even criticizing someone who is donating their precious time purely to help others.
BTW, it’s also poor Message Board etiquette to “hijack” a thread onto other subjects. lol
But, as my grandfather used to say: “There are still many more good people in this world than bad”.
So, hey, when do we get to see more cool pictures? And thank you again for brightening our days a bit.
Dr. John: Funnily enough I just did another Top Ten images posting: http://orbitingfrog.com/blog/2007/08/29/top-ten-astronomy-pictures-of-the-day-apod/
thankyou for some wonderful pictures they are great i would also like to weigh in to the debate of god or no god evolution is another wonderful thing but dont tell me santa isnt real SANTA!!!
When you expand the Saturn image, look to the left side of the rings and you will see the Earth.
Thanks for the images and the APOD site.
Thank you again. These images, beside amazing me, also lend perspective and meaning at the end of a long, hard day.
Excellent images. What I really get a kick out of, though, is folks picking out spelling/grammatical errors, or dissing others’ comments. What a sad indictment on our society. I wonder if they send letters to the editor, pointing out errors in newspaper articles? As far as all the creation/evolution nonsense is concerned, just look at the first sentence in Genesis: “In the beginning…”
Kinda makes ya wonder what “god” was up to before doing all that magical stuff…thumb-twiddlin’, I reckon.
Hmmm they forgot that weird perfectly hexagonal shaped weather system at Saturn’s pole. Its like a mega hurricane but perfectly hexagonal, straight sides and all…. weirdest ive ever seen in space.
Surely it wasn’t just me who noticed how similar the first picture (V838 Monoceroti Expansion) is to the firefox logo in the advert at the top of the page? Spooky!
What a great list! Thanks so much. I just finished astrophysics at the Open University last winter and wish I’d found a blog like this to get some hands on references. Plus it’s all just so gorgeous. Best of luck with the PhD!
I really enjoyed the pictures, especially Saturn. I have a complaint about the page itself though. When I fist opened the page the sun in uv movie opens up by itself. Everytime I click on a picture to look at the larger image and then return to this page the sun in uv movie opens up by itself. this got a little annoying.
Also, the link for the animated Monoceroti images didn’t work for me. I did, however, get the sun in uv movie.
My system is opensuse 10.2 running Swiftfox 2.0.0.6.
Space, the final frontier…
Great pictures. Next, make a top 50 – I’m sure there’s a lot more where all this came from.
wow!~very cool… i used this(topic) as my report (presentation)my classmates were amazed upon seeing those pics…thanks a lot..for the additional info..and links…
Creatively chosen and well written, a nice primer for young children interested in the stars and trying to figure out why we even bother to understand the goings on out in space. Insert star trek theme song here.
Oddities in the Orion Nebula (Hubble)
And I thought the Galactica was coming to Earth from the Ionian Nebula, no wonder it’ll be February till a new episode…
/ sorry just had to.
Interesting site, thanks.
Space is cool!
Beautiful collection of photos, thank you!
I struggled through Astronomy, but it facinates me none the less. I could stare at these images for hours, but I fear I’ve been multi-slacking far to long here at work. ;-)
These are amazing. You have an awesome site. I look forward to more lists!
Thanks for the most excellent display of pics!! I teach Astronomy and plan to use your site when we get to star evolution… speaking of which…. This “God” that is spoken of in some entries.. well… come on people… There is WAY too much scientific evidence showing that things have not happened as described in the Bible…. God did not create all of these excellent photo opps!
Totally fantastic picture of objects and phenomena in God’s creation. Yeah, maybe there was some grammer mistakes and I (my tech issues) had some trouble seeing some of the pictures but the creator of this site did a great job and gifted all of us with some awesome pictues we couldn’t have enjoyed otherwise. Thank you very much for sharing this beauty with us. I want to share this site with others.
it’s like wow. i wish i could go there for once before i die
dude…this stuff is groovy. i love space
I was captivated by the pictures while stumbling and read the entire post. Then I got caught up in the comments and discussion about English grammar. Funny what concerns people. I marvel at space and the wonders it holds; a forgotten comma or spelling error isn’t nearly as fascinating. Thanks for sharing and explaining the pictures. Good luck with your Ph.D. program.
Hey,
My name is Konstantin and I’m from Bulgaria but that’s not what it matters! :) I studied astronomy so I’m very pleased to see such great page with such detailed and interesting information about the phenomenons in space. Great work! :) All this proves one more time that the Universe is unending space with uncountable number of beautiful and mysterious objects. Humans can only be happy to be able to see even just a part of it and to live on :) Greetings everyone ;)
really wonderful collection. i don’t know much about space, but it is very interesting to see these.
http://entrepreneurs-world.blogspot.com/
this site is the best site ever to learn about things in space. i am so interested in space i dont think anyone is into space as much as i am.
space is the best thing to learn about when u are a child. i cant wait until i am an adult.
This is rubbish .! Get more pics
first to reply from 2009
I am absolutely awed by these photos. The first set, in particular, interest me and amaze me.
Is it my imagination, or is that object actually growing? What is it growing to be?
It appears to be becoming more complicated as it grows (that sentence structure looks awkward). I’m just very curious as to what it is.
I’m curious about almost everything.
muy lindas las imagenes pero escribanlo en español
Excellent pictures. Still I find it interesting we know more about these oddities in space, than about the ones in our own oceans.
Beautiful. I love photographs of space.