Pete Marenfeld
THE FINAL POST OF 2011... Just thought I'd end this year by sharing these cool astronomy-related photos that I found online with y’all. The image above is a neat graphic showing the super-massive black hole at the center of galaxy NGC 3842...and how this black hole compares in size to our own solar system (needless to say, all eight planets plus Pluto would be royally screwed if this mammoth object came headed our way). The pic directly below shows the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope in Chile...with a laser shooting out into the night sky while the Milky Way hangs in the backdrop. The image below this one is of another snapshot of ESO—this time with the recently-discovered Comet Lovejoy; its tail glowing vertically near the horizon. The photo below these ones is of the Milky Way as seen from Mangaia, which is in the southern-most area of the Cook Islands. And the image below that one is of the Allen Telescope Array (again with the Milky Way shining overhead) located 300 miles northeast of San Francisco. Pretty damn awesome. Needless to say, you won’t get these amazing views of our galaxy living in downtown Los Angeles...or even L.A. County, where I currently reside.
Anyways, have a kick-ass 2012, everyone! End of the world and all.
ESO / G. Hüdepohl
ESO / G. Brammer
Tunc Tezel
SETI.org
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