The Sun is a single pixel.

Random cool image.

Umbrafact: Astronomy is one of my hobbies.

the farthest blue one looks cool

Wow our star is small o-o
Does our sun even have a legit name? Like Betelgeuse? :3

sol

According to most star lifespans, shouldn't our sun be long gone by now, though?

The sun is a medium sized size. G-class I believe. The average lifespan of a star like our sun is about 10 billion years. So ours is a little more than 1/2 way through its main sequence.

Ghost Nebula towards the constellation Taurus. The bright arc at the top is believed to be a star that is somehow being ejected and flying away from the nebula at a high speed.

omg its the arbiter!!

im a taurus

Umbrasquall wrote:Ghost Nebula towards the constellation Taurus. The bright arc at the top is believed to be a star that is somehow being ejected and flying away from the nebula at a high speed.

Wow. That's such a beautiful photo... Those stars are so bright too. Could you imagine being surrounded by those?

It wouldn't be too interesting if the Solar System were located inside of a nebula. The density of gas particles is actually very low in almost all nebulae, meaning that if you were inside of one it would appear like you were just in normal space.

Anyway, new picture of the day. Taken in Colorado. The fuzzy oblique ring above the meteor in the picture is the Andromeda Galaxy, our closest full-sized galactic neighbor (with which the Milky Way will be merging with in another couple of billion years).

Resize pl0x. And yes, our sun is a class G star.

Today's NASA picture of the day is the Hoag-type galaxy NGC 6028. It looks like a picture two galaxies, but is actually one galaxy with a ring of mainly young, blue, hot stars and a center disk of older, red stars.

NGC 6028 lies 600 million light years away toward the constellation Serpens. The size of the ring is estimated to be about 100,000 light years (about the diameter of the disk of the Milky Way).

The current theory about how such an galaxy formed involves the ancient collision of NGC 6028's with another galaxy.

There are certain places in the world that where the night sky is so untainted by man-made light that it is possible to see your own shadow cast by the light of our galaxy. This photo was taken in Victoria, Australia and one can see the shadows of the rocks in the foreground cast onto the water by the starlight from the central disk of the Milky Way.

Wow sick picture umbra. Wish it was like this at night where I lived. Sometimes if I look at the sky and move my face from side to side, I can see other stars in the far background for a brief moment.

umbra gets so deep about the stars

or was it copy n paste?

he's really talking about me.. -cough-

I doubt it Candy. I can't imagine you being a single pixel.

You saying I'm fat?! >:I

No, but that face doesn't help the argument. ;o

Heath's just jealous of Candy's extremely slim figure that he has to go bashing on her so he can feel good about himself pretending there's someone fatter than him. Heath, less twinkie moar salad. Loljk I know what Candy looks like but no idea what Heath does so I can't really compare. But DAI on the other hand...

hahahahha

i <3 you ppls.

No rumors about my wife please. >:

Today's picture was taken just recently by the Big Bear Solar Observatory in California. It is the most detailed shot of a sunspot to date, with a resolution of just 50 miles off the sun's surface (basically, what you would see if you were hovering 50 miles above this spot in the photo).

Sunspots are areas of comparatively cool areas on the sun's surface caused by magnetic fluctuations and convection currents. They look black not because they are actually cold areas (they range from 5-7K degrees F) but because they are ~2K degrees cooler than the rest of the surface of the star.

Stars have sunspot cycles. Our star's cycle is about ~11 years. Because the sun is hotter when there are more spots, the presence or absense of spots can actually affect the surface temperature of the Earth. During a period in the 1800s, there was an extended period (about 50 years) I believe, where the sun had no spots. Consequently global temperatures were very low during this period and it was called the "mini ice age." Actually, the sun has just recently emerged out of an unusually long no-spot period last year. Any chance of the sun helping curb global warming isn't likely now haha. Perhaps the reemerging of sunspots is why this year has been the hottest year on record yet.

The cell/grid/bubble pattern shows how the plasma is raising/sinking back from the surface. It actually takes thousands to hundreds of thousands of years for the energy created from fusion in the core of the sun to make it's way to the surface. So the sunlight energy we feel everyday when we walk around outside was actually created many thousands of years ago deep in the core of our star (plus the 8 minutes or so of travel time between the sun's surface and Earth).

But yeah, all that aside.

WE MUST HIDE THE RING. THE EYE OF SAURON IS ONTO US.

ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY WALK INTO MORDOR

Umbrasquall wrote:No rumors about my wife please. >:

Umbra:
1: whens the wedding?

2:and are we invited?

3: will there be cake?

4: what kind of presents should we get you?

5: did you get a dj, photographer, or an officiant yet?

6:can mono and i be in your wedding party? (riding in limos is fun, what can i say)



ps why am i the only one that noticed this?