Thread: Astronomy picture of the day

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

Anyone else keep an eye on this site? Some of the images are just mind blowing!!

Like the hubble ultra deep field:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040309.html
To think nearly all those dots are entire galaxies , and that photo's just a small pencil beam of the sky... Ill quote from the hubble site:

If astronomers made the Hubble Ultra Deep Field observation over the entire sky, how long would it take?

The whole sky contains 12.7 million times more area than the Ultra Deep Field. To observe the entire sky would take almost 1 million years of uninterrupted observing.

How wide is the Ultra Deep Field's slice of the heavens?

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field is called a "pencil beam" survey because the observations encompass a narrow, yet "deep" piece of sky. Astronomers compare the Ultra Deep Field view to looking through an eight-foot-long soda straw.

The Ultra Deep Field's patch of sky is so tiny it would fit inside the largest impact basin that makes up the face on the Moon. Astronomers would need about 50 Ultra Deep Fields to cover the entire Moon.

I have the NASA picture of the day on my iGoogle page. It shows the picture and explanations as well.

I love pictures like this

My brother checks the site everyday and uses them as his background. Alot fo them are cool. I don't like ones of just galaxies as much as ones that have to do with the moon, sun or other things that we could actually see day to day.

BTW I can't get myself to look at the sun in AdamA's picture and if I do it seems like I want to look away.

Originally Posted by RooJ

Like the hubble ultra deep field:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040309.html
To think nearly all those dots are entire galaxies , and that photo's just a small pencil beam of the sky...

I love that photo. It's so mind-blowing to see all those entire galaxies...

kinda make you feel insignificant, eh?

Andromeda galaxy

I've always loved the Andromeda pictures, it was one of the first images I saw on APOD. Heres one without the watermark:




I also love the images of M51 whirlpool galaxy. A huge galaxy colliding with a smaller one:

Originally Posted by Burns

kinda make you feel insignificant, eh?

It does and it doesn't for me, sometimes i do get overwhelmed thinking about how vast the universe is, and i do kinda get that feeling of insignificance. But other times i realise we're all made up of material born of stars right? We're all a part of the universe just like the moon is part of the universe, except we're conscious, a conscious part of the universe, almost like we are the universe trying to understand itself. I think that makes all life pretty significant, even if society is geared around making us feel the opposite...

And then I put the mushrooms away.... j/k

Not at all, I completely see where you are coming from and do in a way agree with you

My favorite. Also called the Sombrero Galaxy. (Looks like a hat) Astronomy is pretty fascinating. I've pretty much read every Wikipedia article on the subject and taken a few classes on it. It's all for personal enjoyment though. I can't even begin to describe everything I've learned on this subject because it all too amazing.