Latest hubble image

This is jawdropping! Stunning image

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19728375

You can download the Hi res version here too

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/pr2012037a/

So has Jesus really been to all of these places! 😀

Wow. That is incomprehensible.

So has Jesus really been to all of these places!

You expect to hear that Jesus loves you in a church, but it becomes much more worrying when you hear it in a Spanish prison cell.

So has Jesus really been to all of these places!

conventional Christian teachign would say he’s in all those places at once.

He’s probably feeling a bit stretched.

I’m trying very, very hard not to actually think about the content of that image. Very cool.

I cant stop looking at it!

Gosh. So if I’ve got this right, we’re exactly in the middle of the picture and everything else is revolving around us.

For succint explanations on all things scientific, just feel free to ask me.

😯

My head hurts

So that little faint glimmer of a pixelly dot is actually anothr galaxy that’s got a few billion stars in it…

Word for the day : “Insignificant”

I think I’ve asked this, and failed to understand the answer, before, but…

If the universe started with a big bang and everything is expanding away from the original point at more or less the same speed, then all the galaxies and other stuff will be arranged as if they are on the surface of a balloon while it is being blown up, so the universe is, in effect, hollow.

I take it then, that this image is of the opposite side of the balloon to us ?

More like 100bn.

Wave to all the aliens out there.

Wave to all the aliens out there.

Personally, I think we shoudl try and keep our heads down and hope they don’t notice us.

Amazing isn’t but some how reminds me a posted I had a as kid that was an artist impression. Trying to think if it was a film poster or not.

So has Jesus really been to all of these places?

[/url]

My brain already thinks it knows all this stuff. But somehow an image like this can still give it a new perspective.

I think I’ve asked this, and failed to understand the answer, before, but…

If the universe started with a big bang and everything is expanding away from the original point at more or less the same speed, then all the galaxies and other stuff will be arranged as if they are on the surface of a balloon while it is being blown up, so the universe is, in effect, hollow.

I take it then, that this image is of the opposite side of the balloon to us ?

No need to get confused by all this modern science malarkey, just remember its turtles all the way down.

I’m not 100% sure what it is I’m looking at.

But it looks cool.

Can anyone explain ?

photoshop.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

If we,re looking at light from the birth of the universe, why are the galaxies alredy formed and not hjust randomly scattered gas clouds?

why are the galaxies alredy formed and not hjust randomly scattered gas clouds?

From the BBC story:

one is seen as it existed just 450 million years after the Universe’s birth in the Big Bang. Scientists time that event to be 13.7 billion years ago.

You can get a lot done in 450 million years.

You can get a lot done in 450 million years.

yeah, it was pre-stw too !

how beautiful, proof of God if ever you needed it.

how beautiful, proof of God if ever you needed it.

Troll – you knew STW would point out that sentences should start with a capital letter.

capital letters are for athiests and their god Richard Dorkinz

how beautiful

It’s an infra red image. The colours are artificial.

MTG – that’s an interesting question, and one I have no idea of the answer to.

Edit – I’m sure god does though

all the galaxies and other stuff will be arranged as if they are on the surface of a balloon while it is being blown up, so the universe is, in effect, hollow

Well, not quite. That is a 2d analogy of a 3d system. So in effect the galaxies are also spread out inside the balloon.

It’s a bit like.. ooh I dunno, a nail bomb. All the nails are moving apart from each other. Except that the explosion has an edge, the universe doesn’t, which is why the original balloon is perhaps better – the exterior of the balloon has no edge, so if you can only travel around the surface you’d never reach the edge.

FAKE!

It has always fascinated me how something so unthinkably massive can be capured on a photograph so small. I feel priveledged to have been born at a time where we can experience that.

Space exploration is awesome.

See, I’m lost already.
Isn’t a balloon 3D ? A drawing of a balloon on a flat piece of paper would be 2D.

A balloon is 3D, but the surface of a balloon is 2D. It’s not a flat 2D geometry, but you can specify any point on it with TWO co-ordinates.

Like latitude and longitude for points on the Earth’s surface.

Also, why would some nails/galaxies get left behind ?
Why aren’t they all in a circle ?
Even if some are travelling slower than others, there will be an empty space in the middle.

I’m not sure that quite answers it Mol, If everything is moving away from the centre, then there must be nothing left in the centre no? I appreciate that some Galaxies might have a little more of the explosion propelling them therfore are in front of the others, but overall, there must be a reasonably large sphere in the middle full of nothing.

Showing utter, utter ignorance there, so any links helpful!

Additionally, if the big bang caused the universe to come into creation, then what was actually there and exploded, nad how did it get there. Also, in an infinite universe (the edge of the explosion is not the edge of the universe in this question), then surely there’s an infinite amount of these bangs going on? It’s just we can’t see that far.

Head spinning now, I don’t think I’m bright enough to think about this. What tyres for inter galaxy travel?

The nail bomb is not a good model of the universe overall, because it has a centre and an edge. I was just trying to show how all points can be moving away from each other in 3D. Ignore it from now on 🙂

If everything is moving away from the centre, then there must be nothing left in the centre no?

There is no centre. Think of the balloon’s surface. There is no centre point to the expansion, where the dots on it are moving away from. (Ok assume it’s actually a stretchy football and there’s no nipply bit where you blow the air in, it’s magically being inflated)

Also, like the balloon (but unlike the nails) the galaxies are not moving through space, same as the dots are not moving across the rubber. The rubber itself is expanding. Likewise space.

imagine the air molecules in the balloon – they’re the galaxies.

There just happens to be a boundary (the surface of the balloon) beyond which it’s impossible to travel. that’s the universe.

think I’ve asked this, and failed to understand the answer, before, but…

If the universe started with a big bang and everything is expanding away from the original point at more or less the same speed, then all the galaxies and other stuff will be arranged as if they are on the surface of a balloon while it is being blown up, so the universe is, in effect, hollow.

I take it then, that this image is of the opposite side of the balloon to us ?

There was no “original point” …the big bang happened Everywhere. From any point in space you’re looking out at an expanding region around you.

Because light travels at a finite speed and the big bang happened 13 billion years ago, the outside edge of the region you can see is stuff that happened just after that (and the light has been travelling towards you ever since). But that’s not the “edge” of anything…except the region that you personally can see.

OK, I get the idea of the surface being 2D, even if it’s curved.
But if the universe is made up of far more empty space than solid stuff, then can’t you get a straight line of sight between any two points and look directly at the opposite side ?

Possibly Graham. But we can only see so far back in time. You can’t ‘see’ in space without taking time into account, which is why they talk about spacetime.

The furthest it’s possible to see is the entire big bang stretched out (from our perspective) across the entire night sky. It used to be a lot smaller tho.

Imagine running around the balloon. If you run far enough you’ll get back to where you started. But if the balloon is expanding fast enough you’ll never get to where you started, cos it’ll be getting further away faster than you can run.

There was no “original point” …the big bang happened Everywhere

I hadn’t appreciated that I always thought of it as a point thanks!