From black holes to star births, or what decades of cosmic awe have to do with the future of space exploration.
It’s a bittersweet week for space exploration. On this day in 1990, the
Hubble Space Telescope was carried into orbit by the
Space Shuttle Discovery.
Discovery has just rolled into its
“new home” — a polite way to say it’s become space taxidermy — but Hubble’s legacy endures, having engendered some of the most spectacular space images humanity has ever glimpsed, and there’s hardly a better way to celebrate it than with
National Geographic’s
Hubble: Imaging Space and Time, the most glorious collection of space images since Michael Benson’s
Far Out. With more than 120 breathtaking photographs that take us to the very edge of known space, contextualized in the Hubble’s history, the lavish tome looks back on two decades of the telescope’s service in orbit and sets the stage for its successor, the
James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2013.
From black holes to star births to giant galaxies cannibalizing smaller ones, the images capture the thriving ecosystem of the cosmos, with all its magnificent nebulae, dazzling stars, and majestic planets.
 |
| such beauty! |
 |
| the colors of our universe |
 |
| this looks like an impressionist painting! |
 |
| God's handiwork! |
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/24/happy-birthday-hubble/
Comments