Registered: Aug 2000
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Hubble captures wispy decay of nebulous giant

http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/....reflection.jpg

(CNN) -- A dark nebula faces a dangerous future as it advances toward a bright star in the Pleiades cluster. Already ghostly tendrils ahead of the black cloud are being destroyed by the blue star, one of the famed Seven Sisters, Hubble scientists said Wednesday.

The dark and dusty surface of the gas cloud, known as a reflection nebula, reflects the light of its bright companion, the star Merope, which is just outside the image to the upper right. The picture was released this week by the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Often nebulae near clusters of stars consist of the gas and debris that produced the stars. But the Pleiades cloud has no such connection. It drifts on its own through the cluster at roughly 6.8 miles per second (11 km per second).

This particular wispy cloud resides in the Pleiades, a small grouping of bright blue stars named after the Seven Sisters of Greek mythology, located about 380 light years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. About six or seven of the brightest ones can be seen with the naked eye. Hundreds more fainter sisters are discernable with a small telescope.

Only about 0.06 light years separate the main cloud from Merope, about 3,500 times the distance of the Earth from the sun. Hubble scientists theorize that as the nebula advances, the powerful starlight slows down smaller particles much more than larger ones.

Merope sifts the particles by size, like grain tossed into the air to separate wheat from chaff, the Hubble researchers said. The tendrils heading directly toward Merope are rivulets of bigger dust grains, marching on to their destiny as their smaller comrades stay behind, to the lower left of the image.

If the nebula escapes death during its close encounter with Merope over the next several millennia, it will sweep past the star like a comet swings past our sun, said the Hubble scientists.

Astronomers George Herbig and Theodore Simon of the University of Hawaii obtained the image in 1999 using the Hubble observatory, which has returned tens of thousands of high-resolution images of the universe since it began Earth orbit a decade ago.

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These things always seem to induce thoughts of god, however, I redefine the concept of god a multitude of times inside my head.
Thoughts and pictures race through my head.
Already examined thoughts give birth to new thoughts to examine until I reach the ultimate ending I always reach; I am human, incapable of ever understanding infinity much less god. So I can only ponder.
Now I sit and gaze at the marvels of the universe, speechless, answerless, and humbled.
A little flake of nothing in the grand scheme of it all.

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Registered: Aug 2000
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Posts: 3539

Well, I'm Two flakes of nothing, everyone else is just one.

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Texas
Posts: 2593

quote:

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Originally posted by HELL:
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These things always seem to induce thoughts of god, however, I redefine the concept of god a multitude of times inside my head.
Thoughts and pictures race through my head.
Already examined thoughts give birth to new thoughts to examine until I reach the ultimate ending I always reach; I am human, incapable of ever understanding infinity much less god. So I can only ponder.
Now I sit and gaze at the marvels of the universe, speechless, answerless, and humbled.
A little flake of nothing in the grand scheme of it all.

---

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Sedona, Arizona
Posts: 19114

That was very interesting HELL, thanks.

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Don't argue with me.

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Registered: Aug 2000
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thanks!

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Registered: Aug 2000
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Posts: 3539

this was kinda funny, you might have already read it but...

Mystery monolith shows up in Seattle

SEATTLE (AP) -- A 9-foot-tall steel monolith mysteriously appeared in a city park, just in time for 2001.

Denny Sargent couldn't resist humming the theme to "2001: A Space Odyssey," when he walked up to touch the imposing object, which stands on a grassy knoll in Magnuson Park like the movie's enigmatic extraterrestrial guardian.

"I feel my intelligence increasing by the moment," he said.

The unmarked sculpture appears to have been put in place on New Year's Eve.

There is no plaque or other clue to the sculptor.

Sod was carefully tamped into place around the object's base, but several plastic bottle-cap rings littered the ground, suggesting it was thirsty work for whoever installed it.

John Thoe paused to contemplate the structure as he retrieved a boomerang Monday.

"It's cool," he said. "Especially on the first day of 2001."



[This message has been edited by HELL (edited 01-07-2001).]

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Bangor, ME
Posts: 10173

very cool hell thanks
i love looking at hubble pictures

and is there a pic of the strange sculpture?

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ManHo Inc.©® wanna see?

Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 3539

quote:

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Originally posted by AlcoholSoopaFiend:
very cool hell thanks
i love looking at hubble pictures

and is there a pic of the strange sculpture?

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no, sorry A.F. I just checked again and there is no picture. I aslo checked the Seattle Times, no pic but here is more on the story if you would like...

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsour...searchType=date

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Dumbfucksville!
Posts: 12164

Do you think there are people on the other side of the universe looking at this side of the universe through their hubble telescope the way that we're looking at their side of the universe through ours?

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