It's like a giant snow angel (Hubble space porn)

that is one incredible image.

we had to use ASCII art to draw these things

I love Hubble's work.

I always have trouble seeing these "Jesus on a piece of toast things." I just see gas and dust.

I also have trouble with those 3D "Magic Eye" things.

Jeebus on a piece of toast, not so much. I don't even know what he allegedly looked like.

Doesn't somebody make a toaster that toasts a Jesus on your bread?

Let's do a search, shall we?

(insert muzak here)


Ah Hah!

http://jesustoasters.com/

Video: Jesus Toaster – Blessed is Your Morning Bread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9140593&mesg_id=9140593

to make an atheist say "Oh good god". That toaster made me say that

To boldly go where no split infinitive has gone before!


I love space

Y'know the famous 5 galaxy ballet called Stephen's Quintet, don't you?




Ahhhhh... I can hear the Music of the Spheres!

Always amazing pictures.

(I'm gonna get me one of them Jesus toasters.)

An absolutely fascinating man. What you might call a bit of an overachiever:

Entered the United States Marine Corps in 1953, served as an aviation electrician and instrument technician, and as an aircraft crew chief while completing duty assignments in Korea, Japan and Hawaii, and aboard the carrier USS Wasp in the Far East.

Flown 17,700 hours in 160 different types of civilian and military aircraft, including 7,500 hours in jet aircraft. He has earned FAA ratings for instructor, instrument instructor, glider instructor, and airline transport pilot, and U.S. Air Force Wings. An accomplished parachutist, he has made more than 800 free falls — including over 100 experimental free-fall descents involved with the study of human aerodynamics.

BS, Syracuse, 1958, mathematics and statistics
MBA, UCLA, 1959, operations analysis and computer programming
BA, Marietta, 1960, Chemistry
MD, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1964
MS, University of Kentucky, 1966, physiology and biophysics
MA, University of Houston–Clear Lake, 1987, literature

Surgical internship at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington from 1964 to 1965
U. S. Air Force post-doctoral fellow (1965–1966), working in aerospace medicine and physiology
National Heart Institute post-doctoral fellow (1966–1967), teaching and doing research in cardiovascular and exercise physiology.

From 1967 to 1989, he continued clinical and scientific training as a part-time surgeon at Denver General Hospital (presently known as Denver Health Medical Center) and as a part-time professor of physiology and biophysics at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. He has written twenty five scientific papers in the areas of aerospace medicine and physiology, temperature regulation, exercise physiology, and clinical surgery.

Selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. Completed astronaut academic training and then worked on the design and development of the Skylab Program. Backup science-pilot for the first Skylab mission, and was a CAPCOM for the second and third Skylab missions. Participated in the design and development of all Space Shuttle extravehicular activity equipment including spacesuits, life support systems, airlocks and manned maneuvering units. From 1979 to 1982, and 1983 to 1984, assigned as a test and verification pilot in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory at JSC.

Served as a spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) for STS-31, STS-35, STS-36, STS-38 and STS-41, and lead CAPCOM for a number of subsequent flights. Mission specialist on STS-6 in 1983, STS-51-F/Spacelab-2 in 1985, STS-33 in 1989 and STS-44 in 1991, payload commander on STS-61 in 1993, mission specialist on STS-80 in 1996. A veteran of six space flights, Musgrave has spent a total of 1281 hours 59 minutes, 22 seconds in space.

He is a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Beta Gamma Sigma, the Civil Aviation Medical Association, the Flying Physicians Association, the International Academy of Astronautics, the Marine Corps Aviation Association, the National Aeronautic Association, the National Aerospace Education Council, the National Geographic Society, the Navy League, the New York Academy of Sciences, Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Delta Theta, the Soaring Club of Houston, the Soaring Society of America and the United States Parachute Association.

Story Musgrave and the Hubble:

It makes me feel like a bum. It's really cool that you met him. I watched shows on both of the Hubble fixes. They were riveting. (I was ready to go ballistic when they said they weren't going to do the second fix/upgrade.)

Our club hosted the Astrocon one year and he was a featured speaker so I got to spend some behind the scenes time with him as well. What you would call a true renaissance man. The same weekend I got to spend some time with Bill Nye the Science Guy helping kids learn how to make telescopes (from kits). Jack Horkheimer (the Star Hustler) was scheduled as well but had to cancel due to illness or it would have been the trifecta for me.

I'm so glad they secured funding the JWST. We just finished spending $850B on an unnecessary war so it's kind of nice that they found $6B for a telescope.