Comments on: The Best of Hubble

The Best of Hubble

reverendX — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 12:02:20 -0800

The Best of Hubble Its mission will end in 2010. Four years later it will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up. Many astronomers are calling for Hubble to be refurbished and its mission extended to 2020. Here are some of it's best pictures.

By: reverendX

reverendX — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 12:03:58 -0800

[warning... Flash]

By: Songdog

Songdog — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 12:26:58 -0800

Particularly stunning pictures, though! There are many more pictures, sans Flash, at the HubbleSite Gallery, an official presentation of the Space Telescope Science Institute.

By: mygoditsbob

mygoditsbob — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:15:08 -0800

Absolutely amazing!!!

By: Pressed Rat

Pressed Rat — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:46:44 -0800

Buurrp! Um, very tasty, thanks!

By: kablam

kablam — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:53:30 -0800

I wonder if it has crossed anyone's mind to rig Hubble for a "protective mode", cover it with protective material, then blast it out *further* into space. Even if they can't think of anything to do with it *now*, it will still be there, with known technology fit for upgrade, for a long, long time. Hell, with an upgrade of an external propulsion system, a protective shell, and boosting of its communications equipment, it could be used as a deep space probe. There is an enormous number of possibilities here.

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 14:15:07 -0800

The picture of 1500 galaxies is particularly 'wow'.

By: badstone

badstone — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 14:27:41 -0800

Don't worry about running out of pretty pictures (and spectacular science.) Hubble's very capable successor should be going up just as Hubble is coming down. Although, there is some concern in the astronomy community that there might not be overlap between the two missions (can't find a good article right now), meaning that we might be stuck without a space telescope for some period of time. It all depends on how well the JWST people can keep to their schedule. (Proposed launch: August 2011)

By: badstone

badstone — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 14:43:53 -0800

Besides HubbleSite, STScI also has the older Hubble Heritage gallery. There are links to full res images there.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 14:48:26 -0800

Fantastic presentation, thanks. I wish it went a little more slowly, though, so I could read the captions and enjoy the photos. At least it's pausable/rewindable.

By: magullo

magullo — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 16:15:10 -0800

... and this is so just the first peek ...

By: zanpo

zanpo — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 21:06:59 -0800

I got a refurbished Hubble from Dell and it burned up in the atmosphere! WTF?

By: golo

golo — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 23:08:41 -0800

With the use of adaptive optics (originally developed for photographing soviet satellites) earthbound telescopes can now supposedly produce results that were previously possible only with space based telescopes. (more here)

By: nelleish

nelleish — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 23:30:20 -0800

Oye, the problem with photos like these is they are so very beautiful and mysterious and fascinating that I get immediately upset I wasn't born 3000 years from now when maybe I would actually go out and see them for myself. As magullo put it, this is just the beginning, we can only hope this isn't the only peek we'll get (Arthur C. Clarke has had my hopes up since I was eleven, even though 2001 didn't pan out). *watches again*

By: aznblader

aznblader — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 01:59:57 -0800

Well, the pictures aren't actually what the nebulae and such really look like in real life. You wouldn't be able to see such a panopoly of color. The Los Angeles Times did an article about this. The images were created by assigning a single color to signatures that certain chemicals (I think) reflect, and compositing it together so that it's aesthetically pleasing. I was pretty disappointed too.