Absolutely agree! It's not just this image, you can find dozens of galaxies lurking in the backgrounds of any number of Hubble images. It's one of the first things I look for when a new HST image is released. Case in point, "The Mice": http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/NGC4676.jpg I struggle to get my head around the 1,500 LY distance to the Horsehead, then try to imagine that distance relative to the overall size of our galaxy, and then try to visualize that against the distances between us and those galaxies appearing in the background. To borrow a phrase from Mr. Gumby, "My brain hurts!" Even more brain-scrambling is what happens if you apply variations of the Drake Equation to HST images in which numerous galaxies are visible. And those Hubble Deep Field images? Don't get me started. Seth -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Dion Davidson Sent: Monday, April 22, 2013 10:47 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Today's APOD: Infrared Horsehead I'm amazed at how many galaxies are in this image! I wondered what the "smudge" was above the bright star in the horse's brow, thinking maybe it was some kind of reflection or glare. But I zoomed in and I see it's a galaxy. Then I notice that so many of the dots in this photo are galaxies, particularly in the top right portion of the image. Incredible. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1304/horseheadir_hubble_1225.jpg Thanks Kelly! Dion ________________________________ From: Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Monday, April 22, 2013 6:28 AM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Today's APOD: Infrared Horsehead Wow that is remarkable. I can't recall ever seeing the Horsehead in such detail. And good choice of colors on the part of the people who processed the image. Gives it quite a ghostly appearance. I know Joe will disagree with me, but color only exists in the minds of some living creatures. It is our way of distinguishing different wavelengths of light energy. The colors you perceive mostly depends on the environment your ancestors evolved in. For the purposes of argument, I'm setting-aside singular mutations and those cases where, due to a difference in brain wiring (for whatever reason, injury or otherwise), some individuals percieve colors associated with sounds, for example, or shapes. Thanks for calling it to our attention, Kelly! On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 5:46 AM, Kelly Ricks <kellyalenericks@gmail.com>wrote:
I think today's APOD will go down as one of my all time favorites! I am blown away by the detail and dimension. It makes me really excited to see what the James Webb sends back in a few years. Maybe I won't miss visual-light images as much as I thought I might.
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options". _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".