Photos of Space


Photos of space always blew me away. They looked awesome! And they got even better when telescopes like Hubble were placed in space thereby avoiding the dust and the atmospheric distortions that earth-bound telescopes suffer from. Take a look at these pics below to see what I mean:


But after a while, such pics lose a bit of their charm because there are so many of them on the Net and also because you start to remember that the colours on the pics are computer generated ones.

Which is when I started appreciating the informative pics. Like take supernovas. When they explode, they are said to emit the light comparable to the entire galaxy they are a part of. That’s a bit hard to believe, isn’t it? Surely they are exaggerating. And then I saw this pic:


See that light at the center of the pic? That’s the light of about ten billion stars at the center of the galaxy. Now see that light at the bottom left corner? That’s a supernova! As bright as ten billion stars, isn’t it? Now you know why they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Then there are equally informative pics that come with a tinge of humour. Like this thermal image of a couple of moons in the solar system:
Now tell me they don’t remind of you of that good old video game, Pacman?!

And if you are thinking of space, can Star Wars be far behind? Doesn’t the moon, Mimas, look like the Death Star of Darth Vader (shown side by side below for convenience)?
May the force be with you…


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