What is Digg?25 Comments
- maybeishould, on 06/14/2008, -2/+16Unbelievably spectacular. We've come quite a ways since Galileo.
- alaynapaige, on 06/14/2008, -1/+9Just think. A really long time ago, people only dreamed of seeing this like this. Now we have it at our finger tips...that's amazing technology. :)
- RandomEyes, on 06/14/2008, -2/+8i love it, wish we could see it in real time instead of 1million years behind
- Easirok, on 06/14/2008, -0/+5So do you think there is anyone over there looking back this way - wondering if someone over here might be peering back in that direction?
Since M51 is in the northern sky, it is at a decent enough angle to our galactic plane that we should appear fairly face-on to any observers there (a bit more off-kilter than they are to us, but we should still look like a whirlpool from there). We should appear as a small smudge in the nighttime sky of countless planets in M51 - maybe they have made a telescope by now and pointed it our way? It should be quite a sight, with the nearby magellenic clouds and Andromeda bearing down quickly on us.
Maybe the Milky Way is even catalogued as number 51 by some great astronomer on one of those worlds? - harryrick, on 06/14/2008, -2/+6Fight physics!
- davidhallstrom, on 06/14/2008, -3/+5Fantastic image. Thank you.
- inactive, on 06/14/2008, -1/+2The 51st entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog is perhaps the original spiral nebula - a large galaxy with a well defined spiral structure also cataloged as NGC 5194. Over 60,000 light-years across, M51's spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (right), NGC 5195. Image data from the Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys has been reprocessed to produce this alternative portrait of the well-known interacting galaxy pair. The processing has further sharpened details and enhanced color and contrast in otherwise faint areas, bringing out dust lanes and extended streams that cross the small companion, along with features in the surroundings and core of M51 itself. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant. Not far on the sky from the handle of the Big Dipper, they officially lie within the boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici.
- biddie67, on 06/14/2008, -2/+3The coloring and detail make the nebula look very organic - with tissue and blood vessels.
- east1337, on 06/14/2008, -0/+1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctr-t0LxD9w
- widdershins, on 06/14/2008, -0/+1That's so weird... I just got this picture off wikimedia and set it as my background yesterday...
- RSjmiller, on 06/14/2008, -2/+3For some reason when I see pictures of our universe I have trance playing in the back of my mind....
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&safe=off ... - th3heretic, on 06/14/2008, -1/+2***** song, ***** remix. That is not trance, please do not post saying that is trance. Chicane - Saltwater is good ole trance.
- chaos7, on 06/14/2008, -0/+1awesome pic
- ferrell, on 06/14/2008, -1/+2/sets clock
- H0ns, on 06/14/2008, -2/+2I makes me feel sad that I'll never be able to get there, since it's way too far away.
- SpinCaster, on 06/15/2008, -1/+0Makes me want to see more of the interaction between the two galaxies from a different perspective
- madmanontherun, on 06/14/2008, -3/+2Its amazing... And just think how far away they are. Almost impossible!
- robgendler, on 06/14/2008, -2/+1That's because the person who did the additional processing (Robert Gendler) is a physician :-).
>The coloring and detail make the nebula look very organic - with tissue and >blood vessels - abbari, on 06/14/2008, -2/+060k lightyears across, makes you think...
- inactive, on 06/14/2008, -3/+1Your welcome.
- matt510, on 06/14/2008, -3/+1This isn't a nebula, this is a galaxy (well technically two galaxies).
- nannadenseje, on 06/14/2008, -4/+0I can't believe that's actually real. Truly amazing
- DiggLive, on 06/14/2008, -6/+1Haven't you heard? The Universe is the house of God.
Browsing Digg on your phone just got easier with our enhancements to the 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is