In class we were discussing telescopes, and how they can show us things our eyes can't see because they collect more light by having bigger "pupils" (apertures.) Another way to collect more light is to spend more TIME collecting the light- this is what cameras do. Dr. Belknap, who is now in Jordan, alerted me to the first annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest, sponsored by England's Royal Observatory. Two British newspapers have posted some of the entries on their web sites- the Telegraph and the Guardian.
These are worth looking at- hard to pick a favorite, but the image above is quite nice. It is from the Telegraph site, and is described as
This colourful nebula, known as the Gabriela Mistral Nebula, contains a mass of giant, hot young stars. The bright colours are caused by different chemical elements found in the nebula as energy released from the stars excites the atoms and causes them to glow with different colours of light. It is named after the Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral as it is thought to bear a striking resemblance to her in profile.By Steve Crouch
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment