[mlhm5]

The Sombrero Galaxy - 28 million light years from Earth - 800 billion suns - 50,000 light years across.

The Butterfly or Cotton Candy Nebula - 2100 light-years away

The Ant Nebula - 3000 light-years away

The Saturn Nebula - 2400 light-years away

The Blinking Eye Nebula - 2200 light-years away

Want to see more?

Link #1

Link #2

 

[GlorytheWiz825]

Absolutely amazing pictures. Every time I see pictures like that, I realize how small we are. Gosh, there has got to be other life out there in such a huge universe. I wonder if we'll encouner extraterrestrial life in my lifetime...

 

[ozstrike]

The astronomy picture of the day is awesome. I look at all of them. A lot of the pictures aren't real though, they're simulated.
amazing all the same.

 

[Superpredator]

Man I love looking at pictures like that and real-life starry skies and pondering the vastness of existence. If I could find a girl who could give me more than just the flattest reactions to those kinds of pictures I think I would be on my way towards happiness.

 

[werdwerdus]

And people can still believe that this all happened by chance

 

[mlhm5]

A few More

The Eskimo Nebula - ~3,000 light years from Earth

The Hourglass Nebula - 8000 light years from Earth

The Perfect Storm in the Omega/Nebula - 5500 light years from Earth

The Cat's Eye Nebula - ~3,300 light years from Earth

The Crab Nebula - 6500 light years from Earth

The Trifid Nebula - 5000 light years from Earth

V838 Monocerotis- 20000 light years from Earth

The Star Queen Nebula – Pillars of Creation- 7000 light years from Earth

The Orion Nebula - 1500 light years from Earth

The Rosette Nebula - 3600 light years from Earth

The Helix Nebula - 650 light years from Earth

The Ring Nebula - 2300 light years from Earth

Pickering’s Triangle in the Veil Nebula - 1470 light years from Earth

Boomerang Nebula - 5000 light years from Earth

Egg Nebula - 3000 light years from Earth

Pelican Nebula - 1800 light years from Earth

 

[VicAjax]

looking at these pictures, i have no doubt that intelligent life exists, or will exist, elsewhere in the universe.

 

[Superpredator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by werdwerdus /img/forum/go_quote.gif And people can still believe that this all happened by chance

The appearance of chance can validly be said to exist as a system within divine order. Even in a system of divine order, the cognizant willing of the phenomena pictured above into existence seems highly unlikely*, or at the very least not worth thinking about, since understanding those phenomena is for the most part only relevant insofar as they are connected to the system in which chance seems often to exist. The only part that is completely up in the air for me is what, exactly, that divine is. Asking young people to proclaim they are certain they understand this divine before they even understand themselves is very bizarre to me. I'd rather spend a lifetime pondering it all from a variety of perspectives without coming to a conclusive answer than choose one perspective early on only to try to cram everything I experienced from that point on inside the confines of the relatively basic construct system I would have been capable of conceiving at 15-18.

And thus, Superpredator's thoughts on the universe and the human condition so end.

*unless it was Fry when he moved the stars for Lela.

 

[KYTGuy]

Superpredator: My Daughter, 21, in the USAF, can pack in a Celestron 8, set it up without a computer guide, pack in a battery and inverter, and set it all up, then she can tell you the constellations that are up without an ephemeris. She can tell you the myths and stories behind the constellations, who is whose son/daughter, how they got there, and tell you their names in Roman or Greek mythology.

She can run a CCD camera/computer set-up, and she did all this and more before the age of fifteen, all on her own. I just bought her a few books and the instrument.

They are out there.

No, I won't introduce her, sorry.

 

[kin0kin]

Makes me wonder when will aliens show up on earth....

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VicAjax /img/forum/go_quote.gif looking at these pictures, i have no doubt that intelligent life exists, or will exist, elsewhere in the universe.

Our universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding,
In all of the directions it can whiz;
As fast as it can go, that's the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth;
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!

Eric Idle

 

[Superpredator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KYTGuy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Superpredator: My Daughter, 21, in the USAF, can pack in a Celestron 8, set it up without a computer guide, pack in a battery and inverter, and set it all up, then she can tell you the constellations that are up without an ephemeris. She can tell you the myths and stories behind the constellations, who is whose son/daughter, how they got there, and tell you their names in Roman or Greek mythology. She can run a CCD camera/computer set-up, and she did all this and more before the age of fifteen, all on her own. I just bought her a few books and the instrument. They are out there. No, I won't introduce her, sorry.

Aw, come on, I'm a nice guy.

Seriously, thanks for giving me some hope. It sounds like she could run circles around me when it comes to this stuff, which, of course, would lead me to feel insecure and sabotage our relationship from the beginning. So, despite her skills, tell her it just wouldn't have worked out.

 

[Pm@c]

Yeah Im hoping we will discover a Stargate someday and be able to travel to other planets

. But seriously, this is a huge place we live in. There has to be other life in this universe.

 

[F107plus5]

I too look at the big picture and feel very small. I also think small. My small thoughts go toward the function of G and A and T and C and ponder what kinds of codes other life may have.

 

[redshifter]

superpredator your standards are not high or low enough.