Oh blindness to the future! kindly giv'n,
That each may fill the circle mark'd by heav'n:
Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
A hero perish, or a sparrow fall,
Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd,
And now a bubble burst, and now a world.
-- Pope, Essay on Man
The Bubble
Blown by the wind from a star, this tantalizing, ghostly apparition is cataloged as NGC 7635, but known simply as The Bubble Nebula. Astronomer Ken Crawford's striking view combines a long exposure through a hydrogen alpha filter with color images to reveal the intricate details of this cosmic bubble and its environment. Although it looks delicate, the 10 light-year diameter bubble offers evidence of violent processes at work. Seen here above and left of the Bubble's center is a bright hot star embedded in telltale blue hues characteristic of dust reflected starlight. A fierce stellar wind and intense radiation from the star, which likely has a mass 10 to 20 times that of the Sun, has blasted out the structure of glowing gas against denser material in a surrounding molecular cloud. The intriguing Bubble Nebula lies a mere 11,000 light-years away toward the boastful constellation Cassiopeia.Posted by Vanderleun at July 18, 2004 10:01 PM | TrackBack
Check out this Hubble image of V838 Monocerotis, a red supergiant start 20,000 light years away. Two years ago the start gave off a flashbulb-like pulse of light. As this "light echo" travels outwards it illuminates layers of interstellar gaz and dust that would otherwise be unobservable. Amazing.
http://www.hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2004/10/image/a
Posted by: Jonathan at July 19, 2004 8:14 AMCheck out this Hubble image of V838 Monocerotis, a red supergiant start 20,000 light years away. Two years ago the start gave off a flashbulb-like pulse of light. As this "light echo" travels outwards it illuminates layers of interstellar gas and dust that would otherwise be unobservable. Amazing.
http://www.hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2004/10/image/a
Posted by: Jonathan at July 19, 2004 8:15 AM"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated to combat spam and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.