Lost in Space - April 9th, 2014

             Welcome back My Dear Readers to The Other Shoe. My Dear Readers, it is not often that I take time to revel in my achievements, bathe in the glory of success. That changes, for today, now! Last week saw the second edition of this article series ‘Lost in Space – April 2^nd, 2014’. By today, Sunday, this second edition has garnered more ‘Likes’ than the first. It is this success that I celebrate and enjoy. In the past two weeks I have painted this blog with stellar images from distances many can hardly conceive. Scrolling over my creation, I feel a sense of great joy and overwhelming pride.

.

For the enjoyment, entertainment and edification of you, My Dear Readers, I have reached to the stars and brought them to these pages. Again, I extend my reach to the stars and pluck them down for you to enjoy. Today I bring you more images of celestial bodies far flung and lifetimes away. Incredible to view they remind us that there is so much more to existence, life and beauty than that which is earthbound.

.

All of today’s images come from the incredible space telescope Hubble. Hubble has allowed man… empowered mankind to see further in space, and further back in time, than ever before. In its twenty-four years of service it has returned, on American’s investment, a million-fold and allowed us to see back to the beginning of time. My Dear Readers this is the reason that I choose Hubble images for the first three editions of ‘Lost in Space’.

.

However, starting next week we will depart from images light years away. Starting next week I will begin a Tour of our Solar System here in ‘Lost in Space’ at The Other Shoe. I will be using images from; Hubble, Cassini, Voyager, and Magellan spacecraft to bring to you a tour of our Solar System. Well now, let’s not get too far ahead of myself. Today, we look to the stars!

.

For very first image for the day, is an artist’s rendition of visible-light observations of an exoplanet. This exoplanet is one of the closest to our solar system, just a mere 63 light years away. Known as HD 189733b[1], our image shows this blue planet close to its sun. This planet orbits its sun every 22.3 days. With a daytime surface temperature of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit and howling winds of 4,500 miles per hour. The blue color is not from surface oceans, like here on Earth, it comes from high clouds laced with silicate particles  .

.

[caption id="attachment_2685" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Artist's Concept Shows Exoplanet HD 189733b[/caption]

(Artist's Concept Shows Exoplanet HD 189733b)

.

For our next image I take you a mere 55 million light years away, to another spiral galaxy named Messier 61[2]. Roughly the same side as our own Milky Way with an approximate diameter of 100,000 light-years. In our image, here today, Messier 61 looks directly into the Hubble space telescope. Giving us a wonderful on-side view of this galactic body, just for us to enjoy here today. Just think, My Dear Readers, we live at the very extreme spiral arm of a galaxy very much like this one.

.

[caption id="attachment_2689" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Messier 61 Looks Straight Into Hubble's Camera[/caption]

(Messier 61 Looks Straight Into Hubble's Camera)

.

WE now bolt back over millions of light years to arrive at only 150 light years from earth. Our destination is the star cluster Hyades[3], in the constellation Taurus. Our image is of a dead star who’s orbit is polluted with the debris of planets. All the planets that, once, made up its solar system destroyed in the sun’s fiery death. This is an image of an intergalactic graveyard, but it makes for a spectacular image for us to view.

.

[caption id="attachment_2690" align="aligncenter" width="630"] NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Finds Dead Stars 'Polluted with Planet Debris[/caption]

(NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Finds Dead Stars 'Polluted with Planet Debris)

.

Known, collectively, as Arp 142 this intergalactic collision of two star systems. The spiral galaxy NGC 2936[4] and the elliptical galaxy NGC 2937[5] are intertwined in a galactic dance of death. Now, the Hubble page says that this looks like a bird. I disagree, I think that it looks like the head of a dolphin. Either way, bird or dolphin it is an incredible site for human eyes, and I have it here for you, My Dear Readers.

.

[caption id="attachment_2686" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Colliding Galaxy Pair Takes Flight[/caption]

(Colliding Galaxy Pair Takes Flight)

.

Just keeping the eye-candy going, here at The Other Shoe, even the web site labels our next entry as a ‘Galactic Spectacle’. Who am I to argue with them? Our next stunning visual image is a composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), the Hubble Space Telescope (gold), and the Spitzer Space Telescope (red). A mere 62 million light years away, these colliding galaxies are creating a spectacle just for our… entertainment? I often find myself wondering if there is life being lost in some of these images? I hope now, but that will not stop me from sharing.

.

[caption id="attachment_2684" align="aligncenter" width="630"] A Galactic Spectacle[/caption]

(A Galactic Spectacle)

.

As always, saving the best image for the last we bring this edition of ‘Lost in Space’to a close. The subject of our final image is the spiral galaxy of NGC 1084[6]. A near perfect specimen of a spiral galaxy this particular one has been host to several supernova explosions, just in the time mankind has been able to watch. Incredible to think that at any given point, suns like our own, our very near to us could collapse and turn super nova, destroying life for millions of light years around. Kind of makes you wonder… everything we have… everything we know could be blotted out… in the middle of the night… never to be seen again, by a super nova star.

.

[caption id="attachment_2688" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Hubble Sees a Spiral Home to Exploding Stars[/caption]

(Hubble Sees a Spiral Home to Exploding Stars)

.

My Dear Readers, that brings us to the end of this week’s edition of ‘Lost in Space’. It brings me great joy to collect and share these phenomenal images just for you, My Dear Readers. I do this for everyone’s enjoyment, for your entertainment and for nothing more. I battle pain… while I do this work… I just do my best to put it out of mind… and push on.

.

I hope that everyone enjoys this week’s edition, I hope that maybe it inspired thought and joy. If you have enjoyed this article, please remember to ‘Like’ and ‘Share’. That is the way I know I did well, that I reached another person somewhere, out there.

.

[caption id="attachment_2687" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Hubble reveals the Ring Nebula's true shape[/caption]

(Hubble reveals the Ring Nebula's true shape)

.

Thank you!

.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="234"] The Other Shoe eBay Store[/caption]

http://www.ebay.com/usr/enzomatrixlt

.

.