It’s a good day for astronomy fans
Galactus needs to take far better care of himself. I didn’t even know he was a smoker.
In reality, Hubble captured this spectacular image of a “three-light-year-tall pillar of gas and dust” that’s under attack from within and without. Infant stars inside are firing off jets of gas, while bigger stars outside the pillar are gobbling it up with their super-bright light. I guess you could call it a huge ol’ pocket of star fuel.
Hubble released the image to celebrate its 20th anniversary, and you are able to bet your warp drive it is been composited and enhanced out the wazoo. But that doesn’t make it any less incredible (see higher-res versions here). It’s located from the Carina Nebula, which of course you’ll be able to locate inside constellation Carina, at about 7,500 light years away.
For something closer to home, but equally eye-popping, NASA recently brought the SDO — that’s œSolar Dynamics Observatory” — online, after launching this bad boy back in February. Its mission is to study the “space weather” created by the sun, and it’s already turned in some incredible visuals on the star we orbit, making use of the full spectrum that modern technology provides. Take a look at the image below, that shows details of the sun never seen before, applying false-color and compositing.
