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Ghost in the Machine

(14,912 posts) Sat Jul 23, 2016, 12:27 AM Jul 2016

"New Hubble Picture Reveals a Warped View of Galaxies"

New Hubble Picture Reveals a Warped View of Galaxies
A galaxy cluster is so massive that its gravity bends light like a lens—making it extremely useful for peering deep into the cosmos.
By Michael Greshko PUBLISHED July 21, 2016

Days before the latest Star Trek movie release, the Hubble Space Telescope’s Frontier Fields program has released a breathtaking picture of the final frontier: a stunning view of a galaxy cluster so enormous it visibly warps the very fabric of spacetime.

The cluster, Abell S1063, is a behemoth that stretches about 20 million light-years across and weighs about four quadrillion times more than the sun. It’s also deceptively bright: While the new image doesn’t show it, the cluster is one of the brightest X-ray sources of its kind, as the cluster’s member galaxies collide into one another and glow from the wreckage.

Abell S1063 also piques astronomers’ interest because it acts like a cosmic magnifying glass. The cluster’s intense gravity warps the spacetime around it and bends passing light, much like a lens—a key prediction of Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

The effect distorts and amplifies the appearance of galaxies behind Abell S1063, seen in the picture as stringy, stretched arcs, letting scientists gaze at celestial bodies that otherwise would be too distant and dim to see.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/hubble-frontier-abell-s1063-galaxies-clusters-gravity-star-trek-space-science/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20160721news-galaxycluster&utm_campaign=Content&sf31458449=1

Peace,

Ghost

15 replies

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Highlight:

"New Hubble Picture Reveals a Warped View of Galaxies" (Original Post) Ghost in the Machine Jul 2016 OP

Makes me feel infinitesimally tiny. nt procon Jul 2016 #1

The one that made me feel tiny was the picture of 1.2 million galaxies, 4lbs Jul 2016 #2

Makes me feel important WestCoastLib Jul 2016 #6

I feel like Earth is a kind of Shire, and wankers like the Republicans want it to be Mordor Grey Lemercier Jul 2016 #8

I dont think they want it to be that. WestCoastLib Jul 2016 #9

you have more faith in them than I do Grey Lemercier Jul 2016 #10

Meh, I'm feeling benevolent WestCoastLib Jul 2016 #11

cheers! Grey Lemercier Jul 2016 #12

2:17am here friday night/ saturday morn here. WestCoastLib Jul 2016 #13

Is your name Zaphod? awoke_in_2003 Jul 2016 #14

I knew this had to do with gravitational lensing sakabatou Jul 2016 #3

And we really know so little... Photographer Jul 2016 #4

And to think that Luke Skywalker is somewhere in there... MrScorpio Jul 2016 #5

I was there once SheriffBob Jul 2016 #7

Are we going to find the universe is like the end of Men In Black? Initech Jul 2016 #15

procon

(15,805 posts)

1. Makes me feel infinitesimally tiny. nt

Reply to Ghost in the Machine (Original post)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 12:47 AM

Jul 2016

4lbs

(6,858 posts)

2. The one that made me feel tiny was the picture of 1.2 million galaxies,

Reply to procon (Reply #1)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 01:58 AM

Jul 2016

each containing an average of 100 billion stars.

Oh, and that was just 5% of the observable universe.

WestCoastLib

(442 posts)

6. Makes me feel important

Reply to procon (Reply #1)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 04:08 AM

Jul 2016

I can't quite explain why, but I've never felt this sense of fear, intimidation, loneliness, unimportance or insignificance that so many other humans seem to over the concept of the size of the universe.

On the contrary, our world seems so small and so petty, to me, that I'm comforted to know that I'm not limited by the Earth, but instead a part of universe that is so vast as to be practically incomprehensible.

Grey Lemercier

(1,429 posts)

8. I feel like Earth is a kind of Shire, and wankers like the Republicans want it to be Mordor

Reply to WestCoastLib (Reply #6)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 04:47 AM

Jul 2016

WestCoastLib

(442 posts)

9. I dont think they want it to be that.

Reply to Grey Lemercier (Reply #8)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 04:52 AM

Jul 2016

They just fall into one of two groups.

1. Those don't have the foresight to see that that's what the logical conclusion to their methods are.

Or

2. Those that don't think they will be around to suffer the consequences of that outcome and don't care if others do.

Grey Lemercier

(1,429 posts)

10. you have more faith in them than I do

Reply to WestCoastLib (Reply #9)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 05:01 AM

Jul 2016

maybe it is because I know so very few in real life

WestCoastLib

(442 posts)

11. Meh, I'm feeling benevolent

Reply to Grey Lemercier (Reply #10)

Sat Jul 23, 2016, 05:07 AM

Jul 2016

I do live in a recreational marijuana legal state and may or may not be a little high at the moment.

You could replace lack of foresight with "fucking imbecilic, primitive, superstitious, uneducated cocksuckers" in my #1 and it wouldn't change the meaning much. In another state of mind, I might phrase it that way.