Satan Sneak-Attacks Area Church (Very Cool Pic Inside, No Boobies!)

[Phaedrus]

Galaxy NGC 4402, one of the only observed "dead galaxies." 4402 has lost substantially all of its stellar formation material and therefore is in a decline that over the next several tens of millions of years will transform it from a cluster of stars to a giant dust cloud. The transformation is fueled by, of all things, inclement weather: 4402 is located near the Virgo cluster, which throws off so much hot solar wind in the direction of 4402 that it has literally blown away cool gas and dust the is crucial to the galaxy's "life."


Phaedrus

 

[Phaedrus]

One of the best images of Cassini's extreme close-up of the Saturnian moon Phoebe. Cassini imaged Phoebe from as close as 2,000km; prior to these shots the closest we had ever been was when the Voyager 2 imaged the moon from a distance of over 2,000,000km in 1981.

A large gallery of pics from the Phoebe flyby as well as and a good bit of info on Phoebe and other celestial bodies can be found here.


Phaedrus

 

[Phaedrus]

Unique in the solar system, Ida (left) is the only asteroid known to have a satellite, the comparitavely tiny Dactyl (right)


Phaedrus

 

[Dante]

good stuf PHAD!

 

[Phaedrus]

Best of the best: images of the Venusian transit ...

Image taken by David Cortner in North Carolina.

An extreme close-up showing remarkable detail of the sun's surface, taken by Stefan Seip of Stuggart, Germany.

Venus and an airplane, captured by Jacqùes-André Regnier, Etréchy, France.

Time-lapse of the transit crossed by a pass of the International Space Station, taken by Tomas Maruska, Stupava, Slovakia.


Phaedrus

 

[PowerGroupSports]

Hmmmmm.

 

[Phaedrus]

The view from a camera mounted on the SpaceShipOne rocket plane shows Earth's curvature, the blackness of space and a broad expanse of the California desert.


Phaedrus

 

[Phaedrus]

Haven't posted anything in this thread in a while. This great shot of the annual Perseid meteor shower was produced by astronmer Fred Bruenjes.

 

[Phaedrus]

Two gorgeous views of the cat's Eye Nebula ...

Phaedrus

 

[Phaedrus]

An historic first detailed glimpse of Saturn's moon Titan, shot and transmitted on the 26th by Cassini ...

Phaedrus

 

[TheGeneral+]

Welcome back sir to one of the best threads going.

 

[Salsantorre]

those are fantastic pics. could you tell me some of the sites you go to so I can look? ty



sal

 

[Salsantorre]

nevermind. You mentioned where you got them. thanks

 

[Phaedrus]

Cool shot of Saturn's moon Dione, sent back from Cassini. If you look closely you can see Saturn in the background.

Phaedrus

 

[Phaedrus]

The Cassini-Hugens mission just keeps on sending back gems. In a truly bizarre development, the equator of Saturn's moon Iapetus has been discovered to be an "outie:"

The ridge runs at least 1300km along the eqautor, and might well completely encirlce the planet. It even cuts through a mountain range over 13km high. Nothing else like it has ever been observed, and astronomers are pretty much at a loss for an explanation at this point. In 2007 C-H makes an Iapetus pass just 1000km away; it is hoped that this closeup shot will help provide clues as to the nature and origin of the equatorial ridge.

Iapetus was the source of astonishment once already in the mission, when the previous flyby revealed that one half of the planet is bright, blast white in colour and the other half jet black. The colour difference is caused by a carbonaceous soot that completely covers the dark side of the moon, but as of yet its cause is also unknown.


Phaedrus

 

[Phaedrus]

A great shot of Comet Machholz passing in front of the Pleiades constellation, taken by an astronomer in Germany.


Phaedrus

 

[Dante]

great stuff Phad as always!!! keep them coming!

 

[Phaedrus]

First pics in from the Huygens probe!

10 miles up ...

5 miles up ...

First broadcast from the surface ...

Phaedrus

 

[Phaedrus]

Well, say goodbye to this old fella ...

The Hubble Telescope, which took a great many of the pictures seen in this thread, one of the few things NASA ever managed to get right, is being cut from the budget and scheduled for demolition in 2006.

Sigh.

Phaedrus

 

[Phaedrus]

Happy anniversary ... Hubble returned this picture of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and its smaller neighbour recently, which was released on the 15th anniversary of the telescope's launch:

The smaller galaxy continually rips dust and debris off of the fringe of the Whirpool, converts them into stars, then spits them back out, where they are then sucked into the Whirpool and become part of it. Not a smart place to go camping, but that is pretty freaking cool.


Phaedrus