Quote:
Originally Posted by skaltezon
Post information about any aspect of the observed physical universe that interests you.
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Nice X-ray picture of our galaxy's supermassive black hole, Sgr A*!
I am interested in the use of different wavelengths of radiation to create striking visual images that increase astrophysicists' understanding of the universe. I like such images because they remind me that our human senses do not let us perceive all of reality.
For example, observe the following two pictures courtesy of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory website I was looking at just last week for fun:
Space Images Wallpaper Search: The Universe - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
If these pictures used only visible light, then they would leave us blind to much of the complexity and grandeur of these celestial events and bodies:
Infrared light image of "Mountains" where stars are being born, viewed by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
Infrared light penetrates dust, while visible light is blocked by it, so this infrared image looks very different than the one made using visible light:
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Cartwheel Galaxy, seen by detecting ultraviolet (shown as blue), visible (shown as green), infrared (shown as red), and X-ray (shown as purple) radiation:
