How Big is the Milky way?

[samb]

Awesome pics!! We certainly cant be the only ones here.

[Alberto_Magnus]

I'm astounded.

To break up my feeling of nothingness in comparison to the vast and marvellous reaches of space, I throw a guess: how do cigars age in light-years? Does the void possess the right conditions for storing cigars? And...I'll be honest: when I read "how big is the Milky Way" I expected to see a pic of huge boobs

[fugwumpy]

Stunning photos! Thanks for posting all of them.

[OZCUBAN]

GREAT POSTS GUYS KEEP IT UP

[MIKA27]

Space and the universe is an amazing and beautiful place, especially when one sees the pictures from the Helix nebular.

One pic that comes to mind is: THE EYE OF GOD.

Great thread OZ, I've said it before but this certainly mixes up the threads compared to the norm mate.

[Fuzz]

This was one of the first pics that got me interested in astronomy. There was just something about the horse head nebula that fascinated me.

[reg]

the universe is absolutely mind blowing

"Let's imagine that we can compress 4.5 billion years, the age of Earth, into a single year. Then, the Planet Earth would have begun forming from matter surrounding the Sun on January 1. The oldest known Earth rocks woudl appear at the end of February. Simple bacteria life would appear in the sea at the end of March, and more complex plants and animals would not emerge until late October. Dinosuars would rule Earth in mid-December and would disappear by December 26. Homo Sapiens would appear at 11:50 p.m. on the evening of December 31. All of recorded human history would take place in the last minute of New Year' Eve."

[MIKA27]

the universe is absolutely mind blowing

"Let's imagine that we can compress 4.5 billion years, the age of Earth, into a single year. Then, the Planet Earth would have begun forming from matter surrounding the Sun on January 1. The oldest known Earth rocks woudl appear at the end of February. Simple bacteria life would appear in the sea at the end of March, and more complex plants and animals would not emerge until late October. Dinosuars would rule Earth in mid-December and would disappear by December 26. Homo Sapiens would appear at 11:50 p.m. on the evening of December 31. All of recorded human history would take place in the last minute of New Year' Eve."

That's 'trippy' Reg.

[MIKA27]

New theory: The universe may be inside a black hole

Source: usatoday.com

In what a Technology Review blogger calls "a remarkable paper about the nature of space and the origin of time," a theoretical physicist at Indiana University has postulated that entire universes might originate from inside black holes.

"Accordingly, our own universe may be the interior of a black hole existing in another universe," says the big thinker, Nikodem Poplawski.

Got that?

The TR author writes that this concept "has been the raw fodder of science fiction for many years." Poplawski's new assumption about gravity has provided the first "proper scientific derivation" for the idea that black holes are "the cosmic mothers of new universes."

Poplawski's math models, published in April, suggest universes may exist within (theoretical) wormholes inside black holes

Wrap your brain around that mind-bender here.

[Fuzz]

A universe within a black hole? Now that is indeed an interesting postulation.

[OZCUBAN]

New theory: The universe may be inside a black hole

Source: usatoday.com

In what a Technology Review blogger calls "a remarkable paper about the nature of space and the origin of time," a theoretical physicist at Indiana University has postulated that entire universes might originate from inside black holes.

"Accordingly, our own universe may be the interior of a black hole existing in another universe," says the big thinker, Nikodem Poplawski.

Got that?

The TR author writes that this concept "has been the raw fodder of science fiction for many years." Poplawski's new assumption about gravity has provided the first "proper scientific derivation" for the idea that black holes are "the cosmic mothers of new universes."

Poplawski's math models, published in April, suggest universes may exist within (theoretical) wormholes inside black holes

Wrap your brain around that mind-bender here.

Wow Mika thats really out there but not totally implausible any thing is possible problem is we will probably never find out

[OZCUBAN]

I have often thought about this sort of stuff especially when smoking a nice cigar preferably in Summer and usually alone ,but you always get to a certain place and then your brain starts to hurt

[Wicky]

I have often thought about this sort of stuff especially when smoking a nice cigar preferably in Summer and usually alone ,but you always get to a certain place and then your brain starts to hurt

Did you realize when looking at your cigar that it is actually in the past?

[MIKA27]

Did you realize when looking at your cigar that it is actually in the past?

How so bud?

[El Presidente]

Great thread Oz

I am in awe of all who have added serious content. Myself, well I was given a kit telescope when I was 12 but could never work out how to put it together. never thought I missed anything until I was in Arnhemland (norther terrritory Australia) where the nearest town of 400 was 500 miles away. We shot feral pigs all day until 3pm (around 40 kills) and then headed fishing at a local waterhole 50 minutes from camp. On the way we traversed some extensive rock carvings on an escarpment which have been dated 30,000 years old. Fishing was magnificent with a fish a cast and mostly 2 ft ling Barramundi (giant perch) on fly. On dusk we had to leave the billabong (waterhole) as the saltwater crocs were coming in so we hopped on the ATV's (complete with rifle holsters) and headed back to camp. We stopped halfway home and cracked some cigars and beers looking at the sky. Seriously, you felt you could pick a star by hand from the sky.

After 15 minutes we witnessed (12 of us) one of the most beautiful meteor showers. 30-40-50 streaks of beauty in the sky devoid of man made light. Still to this day the most beautiful thing I or any of the group have ever seen.

Then arriving in camp, Shagga stripped naked and headed to the shower. I wiped the memory until now.

[OZCUBAN]

Great thread Oz

I am in awe of all who have added serious content. Myself, well I was given a kit telescope when I was 12 but could never work out how to put it together. never thought I missed anything until I was in Arnhemland (norther terrritory Australia) where the nearest town of 400 was 500 miles away. We shot feral pigs all day until 3pm (around 40 kills) and then headed fishing at a local waterhole 50 minutes from camp. On the way we traversed some extensive rock carvings on an escarpment which have been dated 30,000 years old. Fishing was magnificent with a fish a cast and mostly 2 ft ling Barramundi (giant perch) on fly. On dusk we had to leave the billabong (waterhole) as the saltwater crocs were coming in so we hopped on the ATV's (complete with rifle holsters) and headed back to camp. We stopped halfway home and cracked some cigars and beers looking at the sky. Seriously, you felt you could pick a star by hand from the sky.

After 15 minutes we witnessed (12 of us) one of the most beautiful meteor showers. 30-40-50 streaks of beauty in the sky devoid of man made light. Still to this day the most beautiful thing I or any of the group have ever seen.

Then arriving in camp, Shagga stripped naked and headed to the shower. I wiped the memory until now.

Thanks Rob

You cannot but be in awe of the night sky,something primevally Human i guess ,and we in OZ are blessed in our view of the sky ,being slightly under the Galactic plain as to speak

As much as I love this forum ,we cannot talk about Cigars 24/7 ,it is like the cigars we love to smoke ,its all about variety

The successful F-1 thread by Mika is also a good example of something different ,that involves peoples passions.

Also i am glad you put or erased the Shagga thing out of memory

Cheers OZ(Steve)

P.S Maybe we could do a new thread of the month competition winner based on number of replies /views ect.

[OZCUBAN]

Did you realize when looking at your cigar that it is actually in the past?

Is this because the light reflecting of your cigar (being able to see it ) is old light ,or light with a delay factor there fore making it Old

[OZCUBAN]

Think i need a lie down after that one

[MIKA27]

Is this because the light reflecting of your cigar (being able to see it ) is old light ,or light with a delay factor there fore making it Old

WTF!?

[OZCUBAN]

Researchers Witness Overnight Breakup, Retreat of Greenland Glacier

NASA-funded researchers monitoring Greenland's Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier report that a 7 square kilometer (2.7 square mile) section of the glacier broke up on July 6 and 7, as shown in the image above. The calving front – where the ice sheet meets the ocean – retreated nearly 1.5 kilometers (a mile) in one day and is now further inland than at any time previously observed. The chunk of lost ice is roughly one-eighth the size of Manhattan Island, New York.

Research teams led by Ian Howat of the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University and Paul Morin, director of the Antarctic Geospatial Information Center at the University of Minnesota have been monitoring satellite images for changes in the Greenland ice sheet and its outlet glaciers. While this week's breakup itself is not unusual, Howat noted, detecting it within hours and at such fine detail is a new phenomenon for scientists.

"While there have been ice breakouts of this magnitude from Jakonbshavn and other glaciers in the past, this event is unusual because it occurs on the heels of a warm winter that saw no sea ice form in the surrounding bay," said Thomas Wagner, cryospheric program scientist at NASA Headquarters. "While the exact relationship between these events is being determined, it lends credence to the theory that warming of the oceans is responsible for the ice loss observed throughout Greenland and Antarctica."

The researchers relied on imagery from several satellites, including Landsat, Terra, and Aqua, to get a broad view of ice changes at both poles. Then, in the days leading up to the breakup, the team received images from DigitalGlobe's WorldView 2 satellite showing large cracks and crevasses forming.

DigitalGlobe Inc. provides the images as part of a public-private partnership with U.S. scientists. Howat and Morin are receiving near-daily satellite updates from the Jakobshavn, Kangerlugssuaq, and Helheim glaciers (among the islands largest) and weekly updates on smaller outlet glaciers.

Jakobshavn Isbrae is located on the west coast of Greenland at latitude 69°N and has been retreated more than 45 kilometers (27 miles) over the past 160 years, 10 kilometers (6 miles) in just the past decade. As the glacier has retreated, it has broken into a northern and southern branch. The breakup this week occurred in the north branch.

Scientists estimate that as much as 10 percent of all ice lost from Greenland is coming through Jakobshavn, which is also believed to be the single largest contributor to sea level rise in the northern hemisphere. Scientists are more concerned about losses from the south branch of the Jakobshavn, as the topography is flatter and lower than in the northern branch.

In addition to the remote sensing work, Howat, Morin, and other researchers have been funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation to plant GPS sensors, cameras, and other scientific equipment on top of the ice sheet to monitor changes and understand the fundamental workings of the ice. NASA also has been conducting twice-yearly airborne campaigns to the Arctic and Antarctic through the IceBridge program and measuring ice loss with the ICESat and GRACE satellites.

Related Links

Jakobshavn Glacier Calving Front Recession from 1851 to 2009

svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/...

NASA Finds Warmer Ocean Speeding Greenland Glacier Melt

www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-050

Antarctic Geospatial Information Center

www.agic.umn.edu/

Ian Howat, Byrd Polar Research Center

http://bprc.osu.edu/~ihowat/

Melt Season along the Greenland West Coast

earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=20178

Updated Jakobshavn Glacier Calving Front Retreat from 2001 through 2006

svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003400/a003467/index.html

Greenland's Ice Island Alarm

earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Greenland/

IceBridge

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/icebridge/index.html

A Tour of the Cryosphere 2009

svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003600/a003619/index.html

NOTE ON THE USE OF IMAGERY

DigitalGlobe products may be published for editorial use only, in hardcopy, electronic or in broadcast format, provided that credit is conspicuously provided to "DigitalGlobe" on all such products as set forth in these Usage Rules. For purposes of these Usage Rules, "editorial use" is limited to a publication relating to a newsworthy event, or which is otherwise in the public interest.

Mike Carlowicz

NASA's Earth Science News Team

[OZCUBAN]

Black Hole Blows Big Bubble

This composite image shows a powerful microquasar produced by a black hole in the outskirts of the nearby (12.7 million light years) galaxy NGC 7793. The large image contains data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory in red, green and blue, optical data from the Very Large Telescope in light blue, and optical emission by hydrogen ("H-alpha") from the CTIO 1.5-m telescope in gold.

The upper inset shows a close-up of the X-ray image of the microquasar, which is a system containing a stellar-mass black hole being fed by a companion star. Gas swirling toward the black hole forms a disk around the black hole. Twisted magnetic fields in the disk generate strong electromagnetic forces that propel some of the gas away from the disk at high speeds in two jets, creating a huge bubble of hot gas about 1,000 light years across. The faint green source near the middle of the upper inset image corresponds to the position of the black hole, while the red (upper right) and yellow (lower left) sources correspond to spots where the jets are plowing into surrounding gas and heating it. The nebula being illuminated by the jets is clearly seen in the H-alpha image shown in the lower inset.

The jets in the NGC 7793 microquasar are the most powerful ever seen from a stellar-mass black hole and the data show that a surprising amount of energy from the black hole is being released by the jets, rather than by radiation from material being pulled inward. The power of the jets is estimated to be about ten times larger than that of the very powerful ones seen from the famous microquasar in our own galaxy, SS433. This system in NGC 7793 is a miniature version of the powerful quasars and radio galaxies seen in more distant galaxies, which contain black holes that range from millions to billions of times the mass of the sun.

A paper describing this work is being published in the July 8th, 2010, issue of Nature. The authors are Manfred Pakull from the University of Strasbourg in France, Roberto Soria from University College London, and Christian Motch, also from the University of Strasbourg.

Credits: X-ray (NASA/CXC/Univ of Strasbourg/M. Pakull et al); Optical (ESO/VLT/Univ of Strasbourg/M. Pakull et al); H-alpha (NOAO/AURA/NSF/CTIO 1.5m)

OZ Love this stuff power and energy on display on a unimaginable level

[Wicky]

Is this because the light reflecting of your cigar (being able to see it ) is old light ,or light with a delay factor there fore making it Old

Exactly Steve. Everything we look at is past history. Shoot, the warm sun on our face is 8 minutes old! I always thought it fasinating that what the astronomers see through their mega telescopes in earth time actually happened years ago! It does make your head hurt a little!

[SethLG]

How big is a quarter?

What is big?

[OZCUBAN]

Hubble Digs Deeply, Toward Big Bang

An estimated 10,000 galaxies are revealed in humankind's deepest portrait of the visible universe ever. View a full size version of this image, or a slightly farther look with Hubble's infrared camera, in medium or large format. Photo credit: NASA/ESA/S. Beckwith(STScI) and The HUDF Team.

How do astronomers know when they have looked too far into space? Maybe when they have run out of galaxies to view.

That hasn't happened yet. There are still far reaches of space that have not been explored by even the most powerful telescopes, innumerable galaxies that have not been seen by human eyes.

But astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are getting closer, with new images that reveal some of the farthest galaxies ever seen, from when the universe was just 400 million years old.

View Graphic: How Hubble Sees Back In Time

Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, the view represents the deepest portrait of the visible universe ever achieved by humankind. The snapshot reveals the first galaxies to emerge from the so-called "dark ages," the time shortly after the big bang when the first stars reheated the cold, dark universe. The new image should offer new insights into what types of objects reheated the universe long ago.

This historic new view is actually two separate images taken by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer (NICMOS). Both images reveal galaxies that until now were too faint to be seen by ground-based telescopes, or even in Hubble's previous faraway looks, called the Hubble Deep Fields, taken in 1995 and 1998.

"Hubble takes us to within a stone's throw of the big bang itself," says Massimo Stiavelli of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., and the Hubble Ultra Deep Field project lead. The combination of ACS and NICMOS images will be used to search for galaxies that existed between 400 and 800 million years (ranging from redshift 7 to 12) after the big bang. A key question for astronomers is whether the universe appears to be the same at this very early time as it did when the cosmos was between 1 and 2 billion years old.

The Ultra Deep Field contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies. In ground-based photographs, the patch of sky in which the galaxies reside (just one-tenth the diameter of the full Moon) is largely empty. Located in the constellation Fornax, the region is so empty that only about seven stars within the Milky Way galaxy can be seen in the image. (+ View Graphic: Where Is Hubble Looking?)

The Ultra Deep Field observations represent a narrow, deep view of the cosmos. Looking into the Ultra Deep Field is like peering through an eight-foot-long soda straw.

This galactic snapshot is part of a collage of close-ups pulled from the Ultra Deep Field. View a larger version of this image, or the full collage. Photo credit: NASA/ESA/S. Beckwith(STScI) and The HUDF Team.

This galaxy-studded view represents a "deep" core sample of the universe, cutting across billions of light-years. The snapshot includes galaxies of various ages, sizes, shapes, and colors. The smallest, reddest galaxies, about 100, may be among the most distant known, existing when the universe was just 800 million years old. The nearest galaxies -- the larger, brighter, well-defined spirals and ellipticals -- thrived 1 billion years ago, when the cosmos was 13 billion years old.

In vibrant contrast to the rich harvest of classic spiral and elliptical galaxies, there is a zoo of oddball galaxies littering the field. Some look like toothpicks; others like links on a bracelet. A few appear to be interacting. These oddball galaxies chronicle a period when the universe was younger and more chaotic. Order and structure were just beginning to emerge.

The Ultra Deep Field observations began Sept. 24, 2003 and continued through Jan. 16, 2004. The telescope's ACS camera, the size of a phone booth, captured ancient photons of light that began traversing the universe even before Earth existed. Photons of light from the very faintest objects arrived at a trickle of one photon per minute, compared with millions of photons per minute from nearer galaxies.

Just like the previous Hubble Deep Fields, the new data are expected to galvanize the astronomical community and lead to dozens of research papers that will offer new insights into the birth and evolution of galaxies.

OZ

Love this stuff now your looking at something that is old ,really old.

Cheers OZ

[SethLG]

So if I am reading all this correctly, there is a distinct possibility that I could, at sometime in my life, run into Chewie or another wookie for instance. Incredible.

No, in all seriousness, it is very interesting. The great unknown.