I know we have lovers of Astronomy here. This is for you!
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The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on April 24, 1990, and has dazzled humanity with incredible images of our universe ever since. To mark its 31st anniversary, NASA shared a rare gem in the form of the star AG Carinae.
tAG Carinae, a type of star called a luminous blue variable (LBV), is located some 20,000 light years away. It is just a few million years old, and yet is soon to meet its doom, cosmically speaking.
Estimated to be up to 70 times more massive than our Sun, it burns with the light of up to a million suns and boasts a shroud of gas and dust with a span of five light-years – 100,000,000 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon – that, itself, comprises material roughly 10 times the mass of our sun.
The star’s shroud alone measures the distance from Earth to Proxima Centauri, the next nearest star beyond our Sun, and was formed by one or more giant eruptions around 10,000 years ago, which have since been blown apart by stellar winds rushing past at speeds of up to a million kilometers per hour. That’s 300 times as fast as a rifle bullet.
LBVs live fast and die young, and are among the brightest and most massive stars known to science, with a lifespan of only a few million years. For reference, our own Sun has an estimated lifespan of some 10 billion-odd years.
Hubble has patiently remained in service while waiting for the James Webb Space Telescope, which was supposed to replace it 13 years and billions of dollars ago, to come online.
Thankfully, it did stay in operation, however, as it is perfectly positioned to capture the ferocious beauty of AG Carinae, viewing it in the ultraviolet light spectrum – a wavelength range that can only be viewed from space.
In the image below, the red material is glowing hydrogen gas laced with nitrogen gas, and the blue areas are filamentary structures consisting of dust clumps illuminated by the phenomenal starlight.
Fewer than 50 LBVs are known among the galaxies in our local group, so this incredibly rare picture is a fitting way to mark the 31st anniversary of one of Earth’s most famous pioneering probes.
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Also new from Hubble.
The supernova remnant is called the Cygnus Loop and is the result of the death of a star 20 times the mass of the Sun, which exploded some 2,100 light-years away. The hollowed-out remains of the star stretch out over 110 light-years, having been shaped by a phenomenally powerful stellar wind which blew past prior to the star going supernova. Here.
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Also new from Hubble.
Cutting it close: NASA just detected two asteroids headed towards the Earth… with two more right behind. Here.
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From 2019 … the first-ever image of a black hole. At the center of the Messier 87 galaxy some 55 million light year away lies a black hole. This image depicts the light surrounding its dark center, almost like a blurry lava donut. The new lines seen in the ring of light show the gravitational field of this supermassive object, which in turn shows how it affects the material around it. Mashable.com
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A newborn star’s outburst. This captivating picture focuses on a newly formed protostar violently ejecting long streams of matter at incredible speeds, a rare phenomenon known as a Herbig-Haro object. As the matter hits surrounding gas, the collisions erupt in bright, colorful bursts. The star itself isn’t visible amidst this flurry captured by Hubble, but its presence is felt in the gap between the diagonal bursts. Mashable.com
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When galaxies collide. NGC4826, also known as the Evil Eye or Black Eye galaxy, is a spiral galaxy about 17 million light years away from Earth. The gas in the inner part of the galaxy rotates in one direction, while the gas further away from the center rotates in the opposite direction, an odd trait for a galaxy. One theory suggests this is because Evil Eye is the result of two galaxies colliding. The dark, almost fluffy-looking gas that wraps its way throughout gives it an almost ominous appearance; hence, the name. Mashable.com
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THE END
That’s cool. But probably racist.
No doubt. Starts are bright, usually white and are beautiful. The only things that are black is the emptiness and the black holes that consume everything that gets near. Come to think of it, that narrative sounds quite familiar.
Inner cities are black wholes.
Sometimes it’s nice to have a short break from this small planet’s gloom and doom.
Nice pics. I wish they would point it at the remains of the moon landing sites and provide those pics!
I wonder how they got the reflectors onto the moon if nobody has been there… hhmmmm
When AG Carinae dies out, it will take 20,000 years for us to find out, so it could have died 19,900 years ago and we will not see it disappear for another 100 years. It is hard to fathom the distances when you talk in light years.
Sure they did.
I’m sure it is copyrighted as an Image by NASA. Like the moon landing photos.
So, the Hubble is fake?
I think the Hubble is real but I think it’s in low-earth orbit and using a high-powered telescope from there. If it went through the Van Allen belt, the electronics would likely be destroyed.
Everyone knows that reality is fake. Not even I am real.
Awesome post. Astronomy is a remarkable field. So much we don’t know and will probably never know.
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Just because you’re a miserable shit …
…………. do you have to make others miserable?
“The HEAVENS declare the glory of God”
The Bible also says the sun, moon and stars were to be used for signs. That means what you can see with the naked eye since there were no telescopes then.
The Bible also shows people were using astrology at the time, and people have done so since that time. I find astrology more interesting than astronomy. No, not the daily horoscope rubbish. History shows the use of astrology in many if not all cultures, so it had to be a real thing, in my opinion.
In Rome, during the era of Caesar, parents had a horoscope cast to see the life of their offspring. Caesars mother had his horoscope cast. It showed a serious health problem at a certain age. That was during the time of Sulla’s conscriptions. Caesar fled Sulla and rode to the snowy mountains to hide out and ended up sick with what could have been pneumonia in which he was near to death but survived. It came at the time that was forecast in his horoscope.
During the time of England’s Charles II, it was against the law to have a horoscope cast on the king, which could show the time of his death. The Duke of Buckingham attempted that during his insurrectionist stage and was arrested.
People of the past took horoscopes seriously and I find that very interesting, especially since it’s also mentioned in the Bible as an evil to try cast a horoscope rather than trusting God. There are many more examples I could cite on it.
I have no interest in astronomy. I like to see the moon, sun, stars and observable planets. Other than that, I don’t really care. Just like I don’t care if the earth is flat or round. It makes no difference to me.
Star Trek was my favorite show too!