Sometimes Science Reality is stranger than Science Fiction. The wonder and fascination associated with sci-fi stories can stem largely from the actually awe and astonishment experienced when taking in, observing and understanding the reality we live in and often the reality is more wild,strange and beautifully colossal than we can grasp. Such is the deep beyonds of space to which we are only began to really see in the last few decades. These are a list of just 15 of the amazing actual images from the Hubble Telescope, numbered in no particular order as they all offer a feast to the eyes, mind and imagination.
1. The Hour Glass Nebula
The eye of the Universe? Somewhat reminiscent to a kind of religious icon or an occult symbol of cosmic magic it holds a striking awe and wonder about it. The image is of MyCn18, a young planetary nebula located about 8,000 light-years away, for more information and accreditation follow the link to the ESA/Hubble site.
Original Image and Site
2. The Cosmic Caterpillar
Munching away on a galactic leaf 4500 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus, well not exactly. This is a proto-star gathering gas and material to it and as far as star evolution goes could be consider a larva but what gives it its appearance is nearby super bright stars of Cygnus OB2 blasting it with ultraviolet radiation.
Original Image and Site
3. The Cartwheel Galaxy
500 million light-years away in the constellation of Sculptor, the result of a violent galactic collision with the shockwave ripples caused of a smaller galaxy passing right through it. Planetary bound meteors or other earth disaster stories seem minuscule if you imagine the entire Milky Way colliding with another galaxy.
Original Image and Site
4.The Cat's Eye Nebula
Like a glowing cell creature from the depths of the sea, or also described to be the likeness of the Eye of Sauron from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the Cat's Eye Nebula was the first planetary nebula ever to be discovered and is one of the most complex.
Original Site and Link
5. The Black Eye Galaxy
Also nicknamed the Evil Eye Galaxy, kind of creepy, but at least it's roughly 17 million light-years from Earth. Known to astronomers as M64, the outcome of a collision of two galaxies that left a merged star system with an unusual appearance as well as bizarre internal motions, this galaxy has the scars of a violent history.
Original Image and Site
6. Journey to the Centre of the Galaxy
Yellow represents the near-infrared, Red represents the infrared, Blue and violet represent the X-ray. Three views were brought together to provide a composite image of one of the most detailed views ever of our galaxy's mysterious core.
Original Image and Site
7. A Cradle of Chaos
This is the painting like beauty of Messier 8, also known as the lagoon nebula, lies in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer). This enormous cloud of glowing interstellar gas is a stellar nursery chaotically sculpt and colourfully illuminated by massive stars at its heart that also give off huge amounts of ultraviolet radiation.
Original Image and Site
8. Expanding Cosmic Bubble
An expanding shell of glowing gas surrounding a hot, massive star within the Milky Way, this shell is being shaped by strong stellar winds of material and radiation produced by the huge bright star to left. It reminds me of shield you might see in sci-fi movies, maybe a protector from fiery solar flares.
Original Image and Site
9. The Hatching Star
Like the hatching of life from an egg, or the budding of a flower, a star eruption that dramatically demonstrates the echoing of light through space caused by an unusual stellar outburst in January 2002, other sequences are available, this is part three of four images of the event.
Original Image and Site
10. The Star Reaching 'Mystic Mountain'
Likened to a craggy Mountain of fantasy tales, the dramatic a pillar of gas and dust stands three light-years tall, which is being eaten away by nearby bright stars and those hidden within, forging its unusual shape. Lying within the Carina Nebula it is bombarded by Scorching radiation and fast charged particle winds.
Original Image and Site
11. The Womb of the Universe
Nebulas are where stars are born, this nebula is ionised by its youngest and heaviest blue stars. This star cluster Pismis 24, lies in the core of the large emission nebula NGC 6357 that extends one degree on the sky in the direction of the Scorpius constellation, about 8,000 light-years away from Earth.
Original Image and Site
Like a cosmic canyon made up of cool interstellar hydrogen gas and dust that acting as incubators for new stars. This space 'landscape' seems like it could on a mysterious planets surface, the clouds and strange shapes remind me of how you can look at clouds in earth's sky and see various imagined images.
Original Image and Site
13. The Horsehead Nebula
At first glance it seems like a huge figure or creature amongst the stars like an ethereal cosmic god striding across the nebula yet this real image is fantastic enough without the need for imagination.Its lies in the Orion constellation rising gas clouds from Horsehead Nebula, otherwise known as Barnard 33.
Original Image and Site
14. Orion's Sunset glow
In the mythical star constellation of Orion (The Hunter) lies the magnificent reflection nebula NGC 2023, nearly 1500 light-years from Earth. NGC2023’s B-type star illuminates the nebula giving it surface brightness good for astronomers to study it, ancient astronomers often looked towards Orion but never imagined this.
Original Image and Site
15. A Whirlpool to the Beyond
The face-on view of the spiral galaxy M51, dubbed the Whirlpool Galaxy. Its red starry spirals remind me of blood filled veins supplying an organ or a crimson coloured ivy wrapping itself around a curved ornament. The Whirlpool name seems fitting as it appears like a spiralling portal into the unknown realms of beyond.
That's it, of course there are loads more I didn't get to, check out ESA/Hubble's site link below for more.
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/
What are your favourite images? do you see something within the cosmic clouds? or do the star bursts and spiral galaxies remind you of something symbolic? Such images can inspire vivid thoughts of cosmic mysticism and magic or unleash dreams of exploring the stars, even to have looked upon them in our time is a thing of awe and wonder. Let me know what you think and comment below.
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