Latest Hubble Snaptastic goodness: Centaurus A

Boffinry chiefs in control of the mighty Hubble Space Telescope have released the latest imagery from its most advanced instrument, Wide Field Camera 3, of the relatively nearby galaxy Centaurus A - well known for its spectacular space dust clouds. The galaxy Centaurus A imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA …

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe it's just because it's nearly beer o'clock...

but it puts me in mind if a freshly poured pint of Guinness.

[Anomalous Cowturd]

Aaahh, the swirl...

See above.

Wrong colour, but WTF, it's Friday now... ;o)

[Marcus Aurelius]

It is Friday, nearly 12:30

....and definitely beer o'clock

[Anonymous Coward]

Well done Hubble and crew

And thanks for the post of our nextdoor neighbors.

[Anomalous Cowturd]

Crew???

See icon.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think I've mentioned before...

... how this kind of stuff fascinates me.

But but but.... It would be handy if someone could stick a scale on the picture so I can get an idea of dimensions, eg, 1,10,100,1000 solar systems (e.g. 1, 10, 100, 1000 AU etc)

Have I mentioned how this stuff fascinates me :p I think it's the vastness that is awe inspring.

[Anonymous Coward]

re: It would be handy

Scales only work with flattish things, these pictures show objects at varying distances. "This one is small, that one is far away."

[Anonymous Coward]

Scale

Yes, for comparison, it is about 100 times the width of a human hair.

Err, hang on. <wipes screen>, errm maybe it's a bit bigger.

[Anomalous Cowturd]

Re: I think I've mentioned before...

I think you need to move to a slightly smaller / larger scale view of the universe. Start by adding quite a lot more noughts to the end of those AU numbers...

Pedantic relativistic scale Nazi alert! ;o)

[Anonymous Coward]

But but but

Apparently you're not so fascinated that you click on the Nasa link and look at the 'compass and scale image' ...

[Rattus Rattus]

I think a scale measured in AU

would be too small to see. You'd need a scale divided into probably tens of light years.

[MacroRodent]

Just a pixel

It is a view at a galactic scale, so a solar system would be inside a pixel or at most two.

Humbling, isn't it?

[Anonymous Coward]

*sigh*

No more shuttles; these images will soon be unobtainable again.

Is it just me or do those dust clouds represent the dark ages this stupid planet seems to be heading into?

Lets not forget all the raving loonies out there that view images like this as some form of heretical blasphemy.

[The last doughnut]

James Webb space telescope

Just wait until the Hubble replacement goes up there. You ain't seen nothing yet ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow

Just 6 days.....?

[Dr Patrick J R Harkin]

Neighbourhood Watch

You gotta keep an eye on these Centaurans. Did we learn nothing on Babylon 5?

[Bobster]

Really?

"Some say that these gas clouds must have resulted from a pile-up with another galaxy at some time in the past." ...

No wonder our insurance premiums have gone up!

[Anonymous Coward]

What is that stuff?

OK, so it looks like dust/Guiness from here, but what actually is that 'dust'? The NASA text is "dark lanes of dust crisscross the giant elliptical galaxy Centaurus A." but somehow I suspect 'dust' is a simplification...

Boffins only please....

[NumptyScrub]

Composition of Spacedust

Basically any detritus that's been pushed out by anything smashing into other things, or stuff going boom e.g. comets smashing into planets, novae, supernovae etc.

The actual composition is probably mostly light elements and maybe tiny bits of ex-planet, however it's 11 million light years away so, in truth, who the hell knows?

[Anonymous Coward]

What is that stuff?

Spacedust.

[Alistair Wall]

scale

The scaled photo shows 8000 light years square, and the dimensions are 1000x1000 pixels, so each pixel covers an area of about 10^23 Wales.