This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows IC 4653, a galaxy just over 80 million light-years from Earth. That may sound like quite a distance, but it’s not that far on a cosmic scale. At these kinds of distances, the types and structures of the objects we see are similar to those in our local area.
The galaxy’s whirling arms tell us a story about what’s happening inside this galaxy. Bright blue patches mark sites of active star formation. Studying the structures of other galaxies is a key way to learn about the structure of our own, given that humans can’t leave the Milky Way to look back and see what it looks like from the outside. It helps to compare our observations of our home galaxy with those of nearby galaxies we can see in their entirety.
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10 Comments
Eccleastes 3:11
WOW. Now I know why so few people leave comments. They’re either speechless or they got lost in the picture gallery with no intention of ever coming out.
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“… humans can’t leave the Milky Way to look back and see what it looks like from the outside.”
In the distant future whatever our species has by then become might conceivably take a look back, but for us alive now one must agree that it is not possible. We could, however, receive a radio message from somewhere very far away which includes a photo of the Milky Way. That could happen tomorrow. Such an event is, of course, ridiculously unlikely, but still not impossible.
Humans will have evolved into some other conscious intity and millions of years will seem like seconds.
I predict the human body will be totally obsolete within 1000 years.If we do not destroy ourselves with a nuclear war we will be a society of androids similar to Data on Star Trek.There will be no reason to grow food or maintain our atmosphere talk about a Brave New World.Death will no longer be a part of life because our brains will just be downloaded to a new improved model like turning in a clunker for a new car…..
Dear sir,
Are you investigating on Hubble’s images of heaven , Swan Nebula…? Pl share. Thanks
Often wonder, if all the sub-components in Hubble, the almost black boxes, couldn’t be assembled and launch a second and even a third ‘Hubble Telescope”? Surely it would be cheaper than the original.
Like the James Webb orbital telescope set for launch next year? The Hubble is old and the tech is dated. The new telescope has six times the resolution in visible light and can also see far infra red right through dust clouds to the center of galactic bulges.
Instead of a third standard scope the next in line should be a gravitational wave detector to find interesting objects to aim the visible light scopes at.
Science is in motion and while slowed by occasional ignorance from our leader, it still moves.
I have many opinions but have to be satisfied to wait on those doing the work.
What is difficult to grasp is the scale of what we view from the space telescopes. Perhaps we could have a VR experience based on these pictures. Something that might leave an emotional understanding of how very very small a part of the universe or even our galaxy we are. The universe almost infinite and Earth just barely finite. Still, its home.