Recent discoveries mundane and fantastic

[Bob Watson]

I launch this thread to catalog recent findings from NASA and other sources that show the wonder of the universe near or distant. I invite anyone or anyone here to post. to comment to share. things they find that deepen our understanding of this universe we live in.
here is my 1st offering; enjoy!
NASA Probe Snaps Stunning New Views of Dwarf Planet Ceres (Video) - Yahoo News

 

[Goggs Mackay]

Yes Bob, me too! I have been following via BBC news app, the incremental progress as Ceres is approached. It is staggering really when one really thinks about how man has constructed technology out of metals and plastics and elements and minerals, mixed them all up nicely and made machines capable of traversing the solar system with amazing accuracy and the ability to send back to us juicy pictures of worlds far too far away to be seen even by anything but the largest telescope (don't quote me on that point however!).

Considering that man has always looked up in awe at the heavens, spinning around us in the sky, myriad twinkling points of light he had no real knowledge of, things that inspired religions - that inspired philosophers and scientists, and here WE are today standing on the shoulders of giants and we are able to see these astral objects in a way our ancestors would scarcely believe!

How lucky are we? Too often we take all this for granted but we shouldn't because everyone in history would think this access to be a prize that is truly priceless.

 

[Bob Watson]

my next offering...

see that tiny dot? that my friends is EARTH...from 6 billion miles away. on this tiny dot is everything....you me...everything...

 

[Charlie Prime]

Cool beans! The object does look man-made.

Klaus Dona and Michael Cremo have done some of the best work on publicizing ancient artifacts.

 

[DaveM]

Yes Bob, me too! I have been following via BBC news app, the incremental progress as Ceres is approached. It is staggering really when one really thinks about how man has constructed technology out of metals and plastics and elements and minerals, mixed them all up nicely and made machines capable of traversing the solar system with amazing accuracy and the ability to send back to us juicy pictures of worlds far too far away to be seen even by anything but the largest telescope (don't quote me on that point however!).

Considering that man has always looked up in awe at the heavens, spinning around us in the sky, myriad twinkling points of light he had no real knowledge of, things that inspired religions - that inspired philosophers and scientists, and here WE are today standing on the shoulders of giants and we are able to see these astral objects in a way our ancestors would scarcely believe!

How lucky are we? Too often we take all this for granted but we shouldn't because everyone in history would think this access to be a prize that is truly priceless.

What is especially wonderful is when our space probes arrive at a destination and prove wrong everything we thought we knew or were certain about.

 

[Charlie Prime]

What is especially wonderful is when our space probes arrive at a destination and prove wrong everything we thought we knew or were certain about.

This pleases me when it happens just because I like weird stuff.

 

[Bob Watson]

next up..


see that? welome to a galaxy 12 billion light years away...this is so far away that it we traveled to it at the speed of light. when we arrived the earth and its sun be long dead...welcome to the furthest point in the universe...

 

[Charlie Prime]

...a galaxy 12 billion light years away.

Maybe. Maybe not.

 

[Bob Watson]

Charlie please explain. .how can it not be 12 billion light years away?

 

[Charlie Prime]

The current method of using the red-shift to calculate distances may be an inaccurate

 

[Bob Watson]

What is a redshift? | Astronomy Essentials | EarthSky
On the Compared Accuracy and Reliability of Spectroscopic and Photometric Redshift Measurements - Abstract - The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series - IOPscience
The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: Final Data Release

 

[Charlie Prime]

Is the quasar in the photograph below, in front of, or behind this galaxy?

 

[Burnt State]

Classify these under recent discoveries of the near variety. When I looked inside the quinze this morning I saw that these had grown during the -26 degrees Celsius temperature last night. At first I thought certain these were alien feathered cocoons as this was a frost phenomenon i had never seen before, but upon a zoomed in perspective I saw the role my dog's hair had played in growing these little ice critters: