Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Subject: Top Ten Most Amazing Pictures Taken by the HST A friend sent this to me and I thought our Members might enjoy the = pictures.... =20 Joe Goss =20 =20 =20 Astronomers Select Top Ten Most Amazing Pictures Taken by Hubble Space = Telescope in Last 16 Years=20 "...they illustrate that our universe is not only deeply strange, but = also almost impossibly beautiful."=20 Michael Hanlon/AH (Nov 25th, 2006)=20 After correcting an initial problem with the lens, when the Hubble = Space Telescope was first launched in 1990, the floating = astro-observatory began to relay back to Earth, incredible snapshots of = the 'final frontier' it was perusing.=20 Recently, astronauts voted on the top photographs taken by Hubble, in = its 16-year journey so far. Remarking in the article from the Daily = Mail, reporter Michael Hanlon says the photos 'illustrate that our = universe is not only deeply strange, but also almost impossibly = beautiful.'=20 =20 = Enjoy!=20 =20 =20 The Sombrero Galaxy - 28 million light years from Earth - was voted = best picture taken by the Hubble telescope. The dimensions of the = galaxy, officially called M104, are as spectacular as its appearance. It = has 800 billion suns and is 50,000 light years across.=20 =20 =20 The Ant Nebula, a cloud of dust and gas whose technical name is Mz3, = resembles an ant when observed using ground-based telescopes. The = nebula lies within our galaxy between 3,000 and 6,000 light years from = Earth.=20 =20 =20 =20 In third place is Nebula NGC 2392, called 'Eskimo' because it looks = like a face surrounded by a furry hood. The hood is, in fact, a ring of = comet-shaped objects flying away from a dying star. Eskimo is 5,000 = light years from Earth.=20 =20 =20 At four is the Cat's Eye Nebula.=20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 The Hourglass Nebula, 8,000 light years away, has a = 'pinched-in-the-middle' look because the winds that shape it are weaker = at the centre.=20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 In sixth place is the Cone Nebula. The part pictured here is 2.5 light = years=20 in length (the equivalent of 23 million return trips to the Moon).=20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 The Perfect Storm, a small region in the Swan Nebula, 5,500 light years = away, described as 'a bubbly ocean of hydrogen and small amounts of = oxygen,=20 sulphur, and other elements'.=20 =20 =20 =20 Starry Night, so named because it reminded astronomers of the Van Gogh = painting. It is a halo of light around a star in the Milky Way.=20 =20 =20 =20 =20 The glowering eyes from 114 million light years away are the swirling = cores of two merging galaxies called NGC 2207 and IC 2163 in the distant = Canis Major constellation.=20 =20 =20 =20 =20 The Trifid Nebula. A 'stellar nursery', 9,000 light years from here, it = is where new stars are being born.=20 =20 =20 -------------------------------------------------------------------------= ------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com=20 Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.9.15/1839 - Release Date: = 12/9/2008 9:59 AM -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list.