Hubble Captures Cosmic Fireworks In Ultraviolet (phys.org) 35
A reader shares a report from Phys.Org: Hubble offers a special view of the double star system Eta Carinae's expanding gases glowing in red, white, and blue. This is the highest resolution image of Eta Carinae taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Imagine slow-motion fireworks that started exploding nearly two centuries ago and haven't stopped since then. This is how you might describe this double star system located 7500 light-years away in the constellation Carina (The Ship's Keel). In 1838 Eta Carinae underwent a cataclysmic outburst called the Great Eruption, quickly escalating to become in 1844 the second brightest star in the sky by April of that year. The star has since faded, but this new view from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows that the spectacular display is still ongoing, and reveals details that have never been seen before.
This latest image was created using Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 to map warm magnesium gas glowing in ultraviolet light (shown in blue). Scientists have long known that the outer material thrown off in the 1840s eruption has been heated by shock waves generated when it crashed into material previously ejected from the star . The team who captured this new image were expecting to find light from magnesium coming from the complicated array of filaments seen in the light from glowing nitrogen (shown in red). Instead, a whole new luminous magnesium structure was found in the space between the dusty bipolar bubbles and the outer shock-heated nitrogen-rich filaments. Another striking feature of the image is the streaks visible in the blue region outside the lower-left bubble. These streaks appear where the star's light rays poke through the dust clumps scattered along the bubble's surface. Wherever the ultraviolet light strikes the dense dust, it leaves a long thin shadow that extends beyond the lobe into the surrounding gas. You can view the images via a YouTube video from HubbleESA.
This latest image was created using Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 to map warm magnesium gas glowing in ultraviolet light (shown in blue). Scientists have long known that the outer material thrown off in the 1840s eruption has been heated by shock waves generated when it crashed into material previously ejected from the star . The team who captured this new image were expecting to find light from magnesium coming from the complicated array of filaments seen in the light from glowing nitrogen (shown in red). Instead, a whole new luminous magnesium structure was found in the space between the dusty bipolar bubbles and the outer shock-heated nitrogen-rich filaments. Another striking feature of the image is the streaks visible in the blue region outside the lower-left bubble. These streaks appear where the star's light rays poke through the dust clumps scattered along the bubble's surface. Wherever the ultraviolet light strikes the dense dust, it leaves a long thin shadow that extends beyond the lobe into the surrounding gas. You can view the images via a YouTube video from HubbleESA.
See it soon. Ultraviolet shutting down July 31 (Score:3, Funny)
No one is going to get that.
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If it exploded in the 1840s and it's 7500 light years away then how come we can see it?
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Classic Slashdot (Score:1)
New story on astronomy pops up. Interesting! First few comments? Let's see:
One pun about the Ultraviolet movie streaming service shutting down. And two replies, both downmodded (why I don't know) /3 response. Yay?
One random goatse troll
"Space is the place" and a
3 completely out-of-place Trump posts
Well done!
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it would be so nice to have no political post's when the story is technical. Or the bigoted/racist AC post's. I enjoy when post's are funny, or on topic. It doesn't even bother me when posters don't like the inventor/tech topic. But, seriously folks. Stay on topic for crying out loud, there are enough political stories submitted here you can spout your hate filled rants.
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There are a number of AC post's that are on topic and very insightful/interesting. So, I never ignore them when I have mod points. I have started reporting post's that were racists or bullying anymore. The political post's, I just ignore anymore.
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Quite a light show (Score:5, Interesting)
It could happen tomorrow*, or in a few hundred thousand years, so I'm not holding my breath.
*Yes, pedants, what I mean is "I hope that it happened 7500 years ago, and the light from that event reaches Earth tomorrow".
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You are lucky to be in the southern hemisphere then. Can see the Magellanic clouds, the center of the Milky Way, and other wonders of the southern sky ...
You were supposed to wait on this. (Score:2)
Phys.org would be the last place I'd go (Score:2)
Look at the tiny, low resolution photo they offer as the "highest resolution image of Eta Carinae taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope." Try this [hubblesite.org] instead.