Back in 2003 astronomers had to fight to keep funding flowing for the Hubble telescope after an important servicing mission was cancelled due to the accident which killed the entire crew of the space shuttle Columbia. The logistical problem which the crash created, along with a lack of available funding, almost forced the US administration into letting it go to it's grave, but thankfully scientists, activists and lobbyists managed to talk them around and now we are beginning to see why this was so important to our civilisation's education, development and growth. NASA have just released the first images taken by Hubble since it's repair, and they are breathtaking to say the very least (check the 4 pics to the right of this page, and also the video below). They include pictures of stars coming to life and dying off, aswell as other beautiful but strange images. No matter which corner of the universe they point our most powerful space-based telescope at, we are treated to spectacular displays of light and colour, brought about by the make up of the universe, not least the gases, dust and radiation which travel at unbelievable speeds across it. In these latest images we can see evidence of how our own galaxy may have come to be, and possibly how it will end too. This is education, but on a universal scale.
NEW NASA PHOTOS: BIRTH OF A GALAXY
The highlight for me from these spectacular new pictures released by NASA has to be the images of the stars and galaxy which are just beginning their life. Those images are a snapshot of what a galaxy looks like whilst it's gasses and matter are still only beginning to form planets and other large objects. Check the top pic on the right of the page to see the same view from two different camera lenses. Both are taken by the brand new Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) with the top portion of that image taken in visible light, and the bottom portion taken in infrared light, which has the ability to pass through the heavy dust clouds. The infrared image clearly shows a star in the middle of that giant cluster, but in the image taken in visible light, the birthing star is out of view due to the clouds of dust which are covering it up, but you can make out where it should be after viewing the infrared image, and suddenly the galaxy begins to take shape. This is similar to how our own galaxy was born, therefore we may be looking at something which may reflect it's very early evolution. According to NASA that large star is only one of many fledgling stars which are present, and it's size is what makes it stand out from the rest, but it is dwarfed by the column of gas and dust itself. NASA say that it is 3 lights years in length, which translates into about 30,000,000,000,000 km.
DEADLY BUTTERFLY
Another favourite of mine is the second pic to the right of this page, the butterfly-shaped gas cloud. NASA explain... "This celestial object looks like a delicate butterfly. But it is far from serene.
What resemble dainty butterfly wings are actually rolling cauldrons of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The gas is tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour -- fast enough to travel from Earth to the moon in 24 minutes!". The sheer power of that is awe inspiring, and something which we cannot fully understand, and if taken in a universal context, it sort of puts our tiny presence into perspective and makes one wonder what our part is, in this vast universe. Some believe that the universe revolves around us, and other's believe that we are just a speck in it, and I think elements of both sides of that argument can be found in these new pics, particularly the images showing the birth and death of stars. If there is such a thing as glory, then it is indeed contained in those photos.
MORE OF THE SAME
The protestors who forced the US administration to put more finance into the Hubble project have to be deeply commended. While we may not know exactly what they should be commended for, over time things may become more obvious, as we begin to make more sense of what we are looking at. Hubble's estimated total expense of just US$15bn since 1990 is an absolute bargain when we consider what was achieved in an educational sense for both ourselves, and for our future generations, especially compared to other big investments by the same government. For example according to the National Priorities Project, since 2001 the war in Iraq has cost US$681bn, and the war in Afghanistan has cost US$226bn. The difference in investment is sickening, and it looks like it will remain low as the US this week have hinted at human space travel being un-achievable due to economical constraints.
SORRY FOLKS, THERE WILL BE NO MOON WALK IN 2020
They say that they would EVEN need to add US$3bn just to see if it is viable - so what? that's only penny's compared to Iraq - and a report published by Obama's 'Review of US Human Flight Plans Committee' last week stated that... "there are insufficient funds to develop the lunar lander and surface systems until well into the 2030s, if ever" (see page 9 of the report). If ever there was a prelude to a climbdown from getting human feet onto the moon, that was it. Wait for this saga to unravel in quite an obvious way, because as I have mentioned before, the chances of us having already achieved Moon Landings are quite slim in my opinion. I just don't see the evidence, which really should be just as convincing as these latest NASA pictures. They are the most positive example of what a superpower can do with it's globally-unfair share of our wealth, intelligence and technology. What would be fantastic is if all of the images and research data, which has been compiled by every space agency around the world, would be made available in one single online source for the entire world to dissect. And then many more brains could start looking over all of that data and we can get collectively educated just that little bit faster. Many minds make light work, and I'm sure there would be many volunteers. We only need look to projects like Wikipedia to see that kind of system in operation.
