Hubble 24th Anniversary Images of Monkey Head Nebula[/caption](Hubble 24th Anniversary Images of Monkey Head Nebula)
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Welcome back My Dear Readers to The Other Shoe. A very special welcome, indeed, to this the second edition of ‘Lost in Space’! I am quite proud to announce that last week’s, premier, edition of this article helped spearhead the single largest increase in visitor traffic (at both locations) for my blog(s). It would seem, that I am not the only person that enjoys looking at beautiful images from outer space. Kudos to all of you, My Dear Readers, which visited between Wednesday and Sunday of last week as your visits helped. You helped propel my work to ever-growing levels of popularity. That’s a ‘Good Thing’!
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Therefore, it is with great pleasure that bring to you, My Dear Readers, this second edition of ‘Lost in Space’ here at The Other Shoe. While looking for wondrous and striking images, from outer space, to share with you I stumbled upon a handful of very engaging images. These images, by NASA, are of the earth. Taken from orbit, by satellites, they show our home planet in ways unfamiliar… almost alien. I am not going to showcase them this week. However, you can rest assured that some week (soon) you will see them right here in ‘Lost in Space’.
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I decided to start this edition of ‘Lost in Space’ with a bang. It is not often that I make one of the best images, the very first image in an article. I don’t know… I looked at this shot and it just… somehow… screamed at me ‘make me first!’. Not to act contrary to inanimate objects, I have decided to listen to my inner voice and make this stellar image, first. This is an enlargement from the image at the top of this article. Taken on the 24th Anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope, this image is of the ‘Monkey Head Nebula’[1] (aka NGC_2174). I called this a ‘stellar” image, using stellar as descriptive of the visual impact, ironically it is an image of a stellar nursery’. Looking at this image we see where stars are made. Swirling clouds of hydrogen gas, mixed with stellar dust. We all are made of stardust.
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Monkey Head Nebula – Hubble Space Telescope[/caption](Monkey Head Nebula – Hubble Space Telescope)
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Now, we take a huge step back and increase the scope of our gaze star ward. Our next image is not of just one galaxy. Not just one nebula, not just one… anything. The image, below, is as grand as they can get. Known as MACS J0454.1-0300, known as Galaxy Clusters they are some of the most massive structures in the known universe. Every single one of the bright spots, in this image, is a galaxy home to millions to billions of stars, just like our sun. Galactic clusters are so immense, trillions of times the weight and density of our sun, that they can change the behavior of space. To the extent of even bending the path of light as it passes through. This process, known as gravitational lensing[2], can sometimes amplify light acting like a galactic magnifying glass.
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Hubble Magnifying the Distant Universe MACS J0454-0300[/caption](Hubble Magnifying the Distant Universe MACS J0454-0300)
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While we are standing back and looking deeply into space, and back in time, we catch a glimpse of NGC 5793[3]. In the constellation Libra, nearly 150 million light years away, this is a spiral galaxy just like our own Milky Way. Know as a Seyfert galaxy[4] NGC 5793 has two striking features. A beautiful dust lane and an incredibly luminous center mass. Thousands of times brighter than the center of our own Milky Way Galaxy, it is believed that the center of these Seyfert galaxies is home to super massive black holes. Pulling in clouds of dust and gas, these black holes are billions of times larger than our own sun, Sol. Just an incredible image to behold, I had to include it in today’s edition.
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Hubble Peers at the Heart of NGC 5793[/caption](Hubble Peers at the Heart of NGC 5793)
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Traveling back closer to home, and bring down the size of our subjects. Below is a shot of Comet ISON, taken back in April of 2013 by Hubble. This comet was only 384 million miles away when captured by the Hubble space telescope. Moving out of the unfathomable cold of deep space, and already warmed by our sun. We see frozen volatiles as they boil off the surface of the comet, causing the telltale ‘tail’ to the comet. The dusty coma, or head, of this comet is 3,100 miles across (about 1.2 times the width of the Australian continent). The tail extends more than 57,000 miles behind the head. I am hoping to track down more and more images from comets. There is even a space vehicle that plans on landing a probe, on to a comet, later this year.
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April 10, 2013 View of ISON[/caption](April 10, 2013 View of ISON)
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Yes, I have saved one of the best images for last, My Dear Readers. Located only about 25 million light years away, we see ESO 373-8 another spiral galaxy. A part of the NGC 2997 group we see this spiral galaxy on edge. This gives the galaxy the lowest profile and makes it look similar to a pancake… almost. If we were to see our own home galaxy from 25 million light years away, it would look a great deal like this image.
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ESO 373-8 Spiral Galaxy[/caption](ESO 373-8 Spiral Galaxy)
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You see, My Dear Readers, that is one of the reasons that I write and publish material like this, and ‘The Mars Report’.
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We, Americans, really need to get comfortable… with space. We need to stop seeing it as so foreign and endeavor to make it a part of our day-to-day lives. America, recently, made a huge and grave mistake. President Obama passed an Executive Order removing ‘Manned Space Flight’ from the goals of NASA, and all governmental space flight goals. With the same stroke of the pen, President Obama (I believe mistakenly) turned over all manned space flight to commercial/private industry. Yes, for the very first time in the history of our nation space (for manned flight) is now NOT about science and is all about… profits.
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It is my informed opinion that this will result in more deaths in space than NASA ever experienced. It is my belief that space flight should be space exploration! That making manned flight some commercial endeavor is a deadly proposition. My only comfort is that this was just an Executive Order. Meaning, that just as soon as President Obama is out of office, this can be repealed and NASA can again take control over manned space flight. It should be NASA that puts the first boots on the surface of Mars… NOT some private company. It is this belief that has lead me to leave out information about ‘Mars One’ from ‘The Mars Report’. It is a private project to colonize Mars with volunteers. There is a responsibility that comes with manned space flight. A responsibility that is in direct conflict with; profit motives, commercialization, and capitalism.
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I feel very strongly about this subject, and there is little to be said that would change my mind. NASA, for the next two generations, should be the ONLY organization that engages in manned space flight. Further, congress needs to fully fund a project to make America the first nation to put man on MARS!
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As always I am deeply honored that you come here and read my work.
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Thank YOU!
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The Other Shoe eBay Store[/caption]http://www.ebay.com/usr/enzomatrixlt
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The Other Shoe's Daniel Hanning 2/2014[/caption]
