#Edwin Powell Hubble

[kafkasapartment]

"With increasing distance, our knowledge fades, and fades rapidly. Eventually, we reach the dim boundary-the utmost limits of our telescopes. There, we measure shadows, and we search among ghostly errors of measurement for landmarks that are scarcely more substantial. The search will continue. Not until the empirical resources are exhausted, need we pass on to the dreamy realms of speculation.

" The Realm of the Nebula”

~Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 - September 28, 1953)

[lickmystamp]

US postage stamp, 2000 Edwin Powell Hubble Scott #3384 - #3388

Issued: April 10, 2000 - Greenbelt, MD Quantity: 105,350,000 Designer: Phil Jordan Printed By: American Packaging Corp. for Sennett Security Products (Photogravure)

Launched April 25, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope is the most important scientific device used to examine the skies since Galileo’s telescope. The telescope is named for Edwin Powell Hubble (1889-1953), an American astronomer whose extensive studies of galaxies helped explain the structure, size, and evolution of the universe.

[fisarmonical]

Portrait of Edwin Powell Hubble smoking a pipe, sitting at desk, reading. Stamp on verso: Los Angeles Bureau Wide World Photos. Circa 1935-1950.

[pixoplanet]

It's December 30th. 🌌 On this day in 1924, American astronomer Dr. Edwin Powell Hubble announced that the object in the night sky which up until then had been known as the Andromeda Nebula was in fact the Andromeda “Galaxy.” This revelation instantly doubled the number of galaxies and stars in the known universe and hinted at a vastly greater number, for until then every star that could be seen in the sky either by the naked eye or by telescope had been assumed to belong to our own Milky Way Galaxy. An entirely new scientific field was born – Cosmology. 

Hubble based his announcement upon his ingenious analysis of a Cepheid variable star in the Andromeda Nebula. In 1912, American astronomer Henrietta Leavitt had invented a formula for calculating the distance from our Solar System to Cepheids. Using Leavitt's formula, Hubble determined that a Cepheid inside the Andromeda Nebula was much further away than anyone had thought and that, therefore, the nebula was not a gaseous cloud inside our own galaxy, but was in fact another galaxy of stars like the Milky Way… and very far away. 

Later, in 1929, Hubble provided observational proof of French astronomer Georges Lemaître's "Expanding Universe" hypothesis. The resultant Hubble-Lemaître Law states that galaxies are receding from Earth at speeds directly proportional to their distances, like spots on an inflating balloon. Hubble calculated the rate of this expansion, which is now known as the Hubble constant, to be 170 kilometers per second per light year of distance. These discoveries led Hubble, Lemaître, and most other astronomers of that era to the obvious conclusion that an expanding universe, much like the result of an explosion, must have once existed in a tight unexploded state. Lemaître coined this hypothesis the "Primeval Atom Hypothesis," which of course is now known all over the planet, thanks to Dr. Sheldon Cooper and friends, as the "Big Bang Theory." 

NASA paid tribute to Hubble's great and many contributions to astronomy and cosmology by naming its first "Great Observatories" space telescope after him. This workhorse eye in the sky was launched into low-Earth orbit in 1990. It’s one of the largest and most versatile research tools ever devised by humankind and has been responsible for countless scientific, engineering, and technological breakthroughs. And, of course, on 25 Dec 2021, NASA launched Hubble's de facto successor, the James Webb Space Telescope into outer space. ☮️ R.I.P., Edwin… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

[occknow]

Astronomy is the science of the infinite.—Edwin Powell Hubble

[spacenutspod]

Quick: Name a woman scientist. Chances are the name you came up with is Marie Curie, the physicist and chemist who won two Nobel Prizes more than a century ago for the discoveries she and her husband Pierre made about radioactivity. But who else? In a new book titled “Her Space, Her Time,” quantum physicist Shohini Ghose explains why women astronomers and physicists have been mostly invisible in the past — and profiles 20 researchers who lost out on what should have been Nobel-level fame. “This issue around having low representation of women in physics is something that’s common all around the world,” Ghose says in the latest episode of the Fiction Science podcast. “And I’ve certainly faced it in my own experiences as a physicist growing up. I really didn’t know of any woman physicist apart from Marie Curie.” The road to “Her Space, Her Time” began with a TED talk that Ghose gave in India in 2019. That talk highlighted the case of Bibha Chowdhuri, an Indian physicist who played a key role in unraveling the mysteries of subatomic particles and cosmic rays in the 1940s. She wasn’t able to follow up on her findings, in part due to shortages brought on by World War II. Instead, it was a British physicist named Cecil Powell who won the Nobel Prize in 1950 for discovering particles known as pions. Chowdhuri’s work went largely unrecognized. Shohini Ghose is a professor of physics and computer science at Wilfrid Laurier University. (Photo via Perimeter Institute) That’s the way it typically went with the other women researchers profiled in Ghose’s book. The litany includes Annie Jump Cannon, who in the early 1900s came up with a stellar classification system that’s still in use today. (The Star Trek saga gives a nod to Cannon’s letter-based system every time it references an “M-class star.”) Another woman on Ghose’s list is Henrietta Leavitt, who figured out how to use variable stars as a cosmic measuring stick, calibrated by their periodicity and apparent brightness. Leavitt’s research opened the way for Edwin Hubble to discover that there was more than one galaxy in the observable universe, and that the universe was expanding. NASA celebrated Hubble’s legacy by naming a space telescope after him. Leavitt’s work was recognized — but not widely celebrated. “None of the major space telescopes have a woman’s name attached to it,” Ghose says. “So when the James Webb [Space Telescope] was being planned, before it was called James Webb, I was very excited. I was hoping they would name it after Leavitt or any of the other women who have contributed. But you know, that didn’t happen.” NASA’s decision to go with Webb, who was the space agency’s first administrator, drew criticism because of his reported connection to government discrimination against employees in the 1950s and ’60s based on sexual orientation — the so-called “Lavender Scare.”  After a review of the historical record, NASA decided to stick with the JWST name. But Ghose still wants to see a Leavitt Space Telescope. “There are many reasons why we can do better with our naming,” she says. “Hopefully NASA will learn and do better next time.” You could argue that NASA executives and other leaders of the scientific community already have learned their lesson, at least when it comes to naming telescopes. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a wide-angle survey telescope that’s expected to revolutionize ground-based astronomy starting in the mid-2020s, pays tribute to one of the women astronomers profiled in “Her Space, Her Time.” And NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, due for launch in 2027, honors an astronomer who led the charge for the Hubble Space Telescope — so much so that she became known as the “Mother of Hubble.” Ghose approves of the trend, but says efforts to elevate the status of women in science shouldn’t be limited to naming telescopes. “That’s just part of a much bigger issue that women have been facing for a long time,” she says. “I’d say there’s basically some very specific practical barriers that we still see. For example, there’s still a gender wage gap. There are issues around fair hiring practices.” “Her Space, Her Time,” by Shohini Ghose. (The MIT Press) Studies have shown that women in physics and astronomy continue to face discrimination and harassment, and tend to be given fewer resources than their male counterparts. “They have slower paths on their career journeys, so they don’t get promoted as much,” Ghose says. “They don’t get invited as much to give talks at major conferences, which are really important if you want to get those promotions. Grant funding levels are lower for women. So there is this whole series of issues, and these are structural problems.” Ghose argues that scientific institutions have to increase their efforts to address those structural problems. “Unfortunately, what often happens is that instead we focus on things like mentoring women or having science camps for girls … or we have work-life balance kids of approaches to, you know, help women balance their family time vs. work better,” Ghose says. “If you think about it, the common pattern in all of this is that we’re aiming at the women, as in ‘fix them, make them somehow better,'” she says. “We have to fix all these structural issues, and not just focus on ‘fix the women.’ Let’s fix the system instead.” In addition to Cannon, Chowdhuri, Curie, Leavitt and Rubin, the women physicists and astronomers highlighted in “Her Space, Her Time” include Anna Draper, Williamina Fleming, Antonia Maury, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Margaret Burbidge, Mary Golda Ross, Joyce Neighbors, Dilhan Eryurt, Claudia Alexander, Harriet Brooks, Lise Meitner, Marietta Blau, Hertha Wambacher, Elisa Frota Pessoa, Maria Mitchell and Chien-Shiung Wu. My co-host for the Fiction Science podcast is Dominica Phetteplace, an award-winning writer who is a graduate of the Clarion West Writers Workshop and currently lives in San Francisco. To learn more about Phetteplace, visit her website, DominicaPhetteplace.com. Check out the original version of this report on Cosmic Log for reading and viewing recommendations from Shohini Ghose, and stay tuned for future episodes of the Fiction Science podcast via Apple, Google, Overcast, Spotify, Player.fm, Pocket Casts and Radio Public. The post ‘Her Space, Her Time’ Reveals the Hidden Figures of Physics appeared first on Universe Today.

[danigrayextendeduniverse]

World- and storybuilding for It Takes A Village

So my WIP novel is called It Takes A Village, though at this point I'm not sure it'll ever get finished. Not that I'm upset about that—I've done a lot of character building, and sometimes things don't turn out the way we want them to. Instead of a novel, I have a collection of OCs who I've become transfixed on and love dearly. And honestly, I'm happy with that.

Still, a lot of storybuilding was done for It Takes A Village, and I'd like to share that with anyone who's willing to read. So, here's everything I had planned for my novel (I've already talked about a majority of these characters in these two posts if you want to keep up with names):

Adam Nation, Vincent Strange, and Indrid Cold all leave the Pseudosphere around the same time. The Pseudosphere is a hidden realm on Earth in which all magic resides. Adam, Vincent, and Indrid are all sorcerers originally from the Pseudosphere but who are interested in humans and the Biosphere.

Adam, Vincent, and Indrid find themselves in a small Northern Californian town called Cardinal and attend a four-year university there called Edwin Powell Hubble University, often shortened to Hubble University. They eventually meet and befriend each other. Adam and Vincent start dating, and not long after Indrid joins their relationship. The three of them remain together through their schooling and after graduation. Adam and Indrid start working while Vincent continues to go to medical school.

Shortly after Vincent starts his residency, Adam suggests having a child. Vincent and Indrid agree, and Adam gets in contact with an old college friend—Evelyn—to be their surrogate. Evelyn eventually gives birth to a baby girl.

Fast forward thirteen years, baby girl turns out to be a boy! Daniel comes out as trans to his parents right before high school on his thirteenth birthday. They accept him wholeheartedly because they're good parents.

Shortly after starting high school, Daniel starts showing magical capabilities. His parents realize that, like them, Daniel is a sorcerer. They weren't sure if Daniel was going to be a sorcerer because he didn't show any magical capabilities when he was younger and because he was birthed by a human (Evelyn). They ask Daniel if he wants to train to use his magical abilities, but after failing to do a simple task that his fathers are able to do with ease, Daniel declines. He doesn't believe magic would be much use to him.

However, Daniel is discovered by Attacus, who has come on his annual visit to try to convince Indrid to come back to the Pseudosphere and study to be a Master Sorcerer. After failing to do that, Attacus finds Daniel attempting to do magic. He introduces himself as a Master Sorcerer and offers to take Daniel under his wing as his apprentice. Daniel is hesitant until Attacus offers to take him to the Pseudosphere.

Daniel starts training under Attacus and, perhaps because he does his training in the Pseudosphere, he soars. With more practice on his own time in the Biosphere, Daniel is able to hone in on his magic.

After training with Attacus for a while, under the guise of after-school extracurricular, Daniel gets comfortable using magic at home in the privacy of his room—mainly levitation and telekinesis. As his power grows stronger, he unlocks the Nation Clan special ability: the ability to communicate with all living creatures regardless of language. He discovers this when his cat, Pluto, starts talking to him. Daniel shares this discovery with his parents. Sensing that Daniel's magical ability is developing on its own, Vincent offers to train Daniel since he is a Master Sorcerer. Daniel sheepishly accepts, not wanting to seem suspicious as he continues to develop his skills with Attacus.

Daniel continues training under Attacus after school, but Vincent trains Daniel during the weekends whenever they have the time. Vincent starts off with the basics, which Daniel has already learned from Attacus. Even though Daniel shows great potential and seems to be able to catch on quickly, Vincent still wants to take his time teaching Daniel. Adam and Indrid chide him about this in private, but Vincent admits that he's worried about taking on another apprentice after what happened to Dawna.

On Daniel's birthday, Daniel's parents host a small celebration and invite Diana, Diana's parents, Evelyn, and Adam's sister Lilith into their home. Adam shares with Lilith that Daniel is a sorcerer and has been training under Vincent. Upon hearing this, Lilith offers to train Daniel since she is also a Master Sorcerer and also a Nation clan sorcerer, and traditionally sorcerers from the same clan tend to train together. Lilith becomes Daniel's new teacher, and Daniel realizes he has to stop training under Attacus.

Daniel decides to tell Attacus the next time he sees him that he is going to train under Lilith. Upon hearing this, Attacus agrees that it's a good idea since he personally knows Lilith and that it would be best for Daniel to train under another Nation clan sorcerer. Attacus decides to meet up with Lilith to explain what he's already trained Daniel.

However, instead of simply giving Daniel over, Attacus co-teaches much to Lilith's annoyance. It is revealed that Attacus was supposed to train his younger siblings but never got the chance to, since one left home and the other didn't want to become a Master Sorcerer. He reveals that Indrid is his younger brother. He leaves to sulk, and Daniel asks Lilith why she never told Attacus that Indrid was living with Adam. Lilith informs him that Attacus is only interested in bringing Indrid back to the Pseudosphere and that she wants to protect Indrid's privacy. Not to mention, Attacus has declined visiting Indrid's family in the Biosphere and doesn't even know that Daniel is his nephew.

While training with Lilith, Daniel also meets Dustin, who's been depressed ever since Vincent permanently left the Pseudosphere. Feeling caught up in this tangle of family drama, Daniel eventually confronts his parents and convinces them to have a family reunion in the Biosphere. Adam, Vincent, and Indrid reluctantly agree. Indrid is hoping that he'll get to see Mothra at the reunion, but Attacus doesn't inform Mothra.

At the reunion, not much changes with Indrid and Attacus' relationship, though they try to get along for the benefit of the others. Dustin and Vincent talk in private about Vincent abandoning Dustin after Dawna's death. Vincent realizes that his grief over Dawna is ruining his relationship with Dustin and he agrees to visit more, though he reveals he's been visiting the Pseudosphere once a year to visit Dawna's grave.

This is where things get messy when it comes to transitioning scenes, but anyway the climax of the story happens when Daniel uses magic to help out a civilian who was getting robbed. The civilian freaks out upon seeing Daniel use magic and Daniel worries that they're going to report him. He decides to go to Indrid, who works at the museum and is the closest. Indrid thinks that it's best to hide in to Pseudosphere until things blow over, but as he's sneaking out with Daniel, they both get trapped in a room by Indrid's boss and the museum curator, James Haden. James is affiliated with the Committee Handling Anomalies Regarding Magic, or CHARM, and has been investigating magic and sorcerers. He subdues them and has other CHARM scientists take them to a hidden base on the outskirts of town.

At the CHARM facility, the scientists prepare to experiment on Daniel, knowing that he's a sorcerer. Not wanting Daniel to be harmed, Indrid tells them that he's a much stronger sorcerer than Daniel and uses magic to prove it. He promises to tell them everything they want to know as long as they don't physically hurt Daniel. They agree to his terms, but decide to take some samples from Daniel.

While Indrid and Daniel are kept at the facility, Vincent and Adam report them as missing. Cardinal is a small town, so eventually word gets out that a child is missing and the town rallies behind the family. Upon realizing that Daniel is the missing child, the civilian who Daniel helped earlier speaks up and admits that they saw Daniel using magic. At first no one believes them, but Adam and Vincent decide to come clean about being sorcerers.

Diana's parents, Stacy and Cindy, come forward and reveal that they were once CHARM researchers and knew two sorcerers, Edward and Megan Lecter. Edward and Megan were captured by CHARM and experimented on. At the time of their capture, Megan was expecting and gave birth in captivity. The baby was taken from them and also experimented on. Stacy and Cindy tried to help them escape, but Megan and Edward begged them to save their baby. They do so, and upon escaping the facility, it blows up. Stacy and Cindy relocated to Cardinal and raised Megan and Edward's child, who grew up to be Diana. Adam and Vincent realize that, even though she hasn't shown any magical abilities, Diana is a sorcerer.

At the facility, even though Indrid has been complying with the CHARM scientists' requests, they've still been putting him through physically demanding tasks. Daniel has seen everything Indrid's been through and begins making a plan to escape. When the scientists are taking a sample of his hair, Daniel manages to escape by having them cut off a majority of his hair and fleeing. He is able to get to Indrid and find an exit, though it is sealed shut. Indrid instructs Daniel to remain calm so that he can use his magic and force the door open. Daniel succeeds, and Indrid instructs him to run as fast and far as he can. Daniel escapes the facility, but upon turning around he realizes Indrid is not with him. Indrid knew he was too weak to keep up with Daniel and allowed him to escape alone. Not wanting to waste Indrid's sacrifice, Daniel runs.

While running back to Cardinal (he just has a feeling, yes it's related to magic), he hears Diana calling for him. He follows her voice and finds her, and Diana returns him to his parents. Diana was able to call out to Daniel at such great distance because the Lecter clan special ability is sound distortion, which Diana has been unknowingly using to project her voice in theater class.

More transitioning issues, but Adam and Vincent get in contact with their families in the Pseudosphere and tell them that Indrid's in danger. They go to the facility to rescue Indrid and subdue the researchers and scientists there. When they find Indrid, he's not in the best shape and on the brink of death. Daniel manages to heal him even though the other sorcerers aren't sure if he can and surprises everyone.

Instead of blowing up the facility, Attacus, Indrid, and Mothra use their clan's special ability to wipe the memories of all the CHARM staff. Everyone returns back to Cardinal.

Ending a story is one of the hardest things to do which is why I've been struggling with the ending/epilogue. The Cardinal residents swear to keep Daniel's family's magical abilities a secret (i.e. spreading the knowledge outside of Cardinal). There's a lot of potential for a sequel that hasn't been planned at all, but for now that's what I had planned for It Takes A Village. If you read this far thanks so much, my ask box is open if you have any questions!

[lola1695]

O Telescópio Espacial Hubble (TEH, HST na sigla em inglês), nomeado em homenagem ao astrônomo Edwin Powell Hubble, foi lançado pela NASA a bordo do Ônibus Espacial Discovery em 24 de abril de 1990

The Hubble Space Telescope (TEH, HST), named after astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble, was launched by NASA aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990

[ophelia-network]

"All nature is a vast symbolism: Every material fact has sheathed within it a spiritual truth." Edwin Powell Hubble

Hekate by Kaysha Siemens

[dame-de-pique]

Dust devil near Flagstaff

Dust storm over the Painted Desert

Arizona, 1937

[darkigloo]

"The great spirals... apparently lie outside our stellar system."

- Edwin Powell Hubble

[curiosidadesdaastronomia]

A DESCOBERTA DAS GALÁXIAS

O grande astrônomo norte-americano Edwin Powell Hubble (1889-1953). Numa noite clara, sem nuvens, olhando para cima veremos inúmeros pontos brilhantes, que na sua maioria são as estrelas. Alguns destes pontos brilhantes são os outros planetas do sistema solar. Mas eles são poucos, com os dedos das duas mãos podemos contá-los todos. A maioria destes pontos luminosos, entre 1000 e 1500, são as outras estrela.

Em 1929, a União Astronômica Internacional, a entidade máxima da astronomia mundial, adotou 88 constelações oficiais. É sempre bom lembrar que as constelações constituem arranjos convencionais de estrelas, que se localizam próximas quando vistas projetadas no céu. Até cerca do ano de 1600 os astrônomos faziam os seus estudos utilizando um "instrumento" óptico extraordinário mas que se demonstrou limitado para as ambições do conhecimento. O grande astrônomo dinamarquês Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) foi o último a se valer deste fabuloso instrumento. E para conseguir o máximo deste instrumento inventou, planejou e construiu instrumentos mecânicos enormes, denominados quadrantes, sextantes.

Veio à público a invenção de um estudioso holandês que se dedicava à ciência da óptica. Seu nome é Hans Lippershey (1570-1619) e ele inventou a luneta, um pequeno telescópio refrator. O nome refrator origina-se do fato de que a luneta utiliza lentes, neste caso, duas, uma côncava e uma convexa. O grande sábio italiano Galileu Galileu (1569-1642) tomou conhecimento deste invento em 1609 e imediatamente construiu o seu próprio instrumento. Apontou-o para o céu. Nascia a luneta astronômica! O primeiro avanço significativo para a melhoria do acesso do homem às maravilhas do cosmos. Galileu fez várias e importantes descobertas com a sua luneta astronômica. Para a nossa história, a descoberta importante foi o que ocorreu quando ele apontou o instrumento para a Via Láctea. Ele verificou que ela não era tão leitosa assim, mas que na verdade era constituída de milhares e milhares de estrelas! Elas estavam tão juntas e eram tão numerosas que à vista desarmada provocavam o aspecto leitoso, que dera origem ao seu nome. Apenas as estrelas mais brilhantes podiam ser vistas individualmente a olho nu. há quase 400 anos -- foi a precursora dos grandes telescópios atuais. Os telescópios que os astrônomos profissionais utilizam em suas pesquisas possuem, em sua grande maioria, espelhos ao invés de lentes, como partes principais do sistema óptico utilizado para coletar a luz dos astros distantes. Eles são chamados, neste caso, de telescópios refletores. O telescópio que é a personagem principal na descoberta das galáxias é um destes. Trata-se do telescópio refletor, com espelho de 2,5 metros de diâmetro, localizado no Monte Wilson, no estado norte-americano da Califórnia.

pode bem imaginar o "monstro" de que estamos falando. Foi nele que Edwin Powell Hubble fez a sua grande descoberta! Em 1923, utilizando o telescópio de 2,5 metros de Monte Wilson, ele identificou estrelas individuais numa das nebulosas de Wright e Kant, uma das maiores delas, a chamada "Grande Nebulosa de Andrômeda". Ela tem este nome por ser vista na região do céu onde se localiza a constelação de Andrômeda. A conclusão foi inevitável. Aquela "mancha" luminosa no céu -- uma entre muitas -- era na verdade um sistema estelar tão grandioso quanto aquele em que o Sol e a nossa Terra estavam situados. Elas passaram a ser chamadas de "galáxias", por analogia com a denominação de nossa Via Láctea. A partir daí, outras nebulosas foram estudadas por Hubble, e o resultado foi repetidamente confirmado. As galáxias haviam sido descobertas! Uma astrônoma muito importante em tudo isto foi a Henrietta Leavitt (1868-1921). E o que ela descobriu foi fundamental para a descoberta das galáxias.

[alexander-turners]

Numinous Andromeda

Pairing: Brian May x Reader (Gwil!Brian x Reader works too)

Summary: Lazy Saturday afternoon spent with Brian.

Wordcount: 394 (it’s a short one)

Warnings: fluff, implied smut, arguing (blink and you’ll miss it)

A/N: I had this idea from one of Carl Sagan’s quotes: “It's a lazy Saturday afternoon, there's a couple lying naked in bed reading Encyclopedia Brittannica to each other, and arguing about whether the Andromeda Galaxy is more 'numinous' than the Resurrection. Do they know how to have a good time, or don't they?”

I’m so sorry if there are any mistakes. English is not my first language. I hope you like it!

Gif credit goes to owner/maker.

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon. Neither of you were at work today. You both slept until 11 am, then made love like lovers who hadn’t seen each other for months.

Right now he was reading stuff from ‘Encyclopedia Britannica’ to you as both of you were lying naked on the bed. Only the sheet was covering his private parts and your butt, as your chest was pressed on his left side. His left arm mindlessly caressing your back.

“Listen to this, love.” Brian said, eyes on the heavy book as you continued drawing shapes on his skin, ���For centuries astronomers regarded the Andromeda Galaxy as a component of the Milky Way Galaxy. Only in the 1920s the American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble determined conclusively that the Andromeda was in fact a separate galaxy beyond the Milky Way.”

“Andromeda is the closest galaxy to us, right?” you asked, taking the book from him.

Brian hummed, “Yeah,” he simply said. “It’s simply numinous.”

“I think the Resurrection is more numinous.” you murmured, jokingly, teasing him.

Eventually you started playfully arguing about which one was more numinous – the Andromeda Galaxy or the Resurrection.

Finally you decided to give up as Brian continued to tell you more and more facts about the Andromeda Galaxy.

“Okay, okay, you win.” Kissing his lips lightly, “Andromeda Galaxy is numinous.”

Brian smiled and pulled you closer to him, making you sit on his lap. You covered your chest with the sheet. Brian’s left eyebrow shot up like saying ‘Seriously’.

“You never know who are looking through the open balcony door Bri.” You murmured, Brian nodded. After a few seconds of silence you asked, “Do you think the Andromeda Galaxy could be seen from Earth? Without a telescope?”

“Yes, I will show it to you tonight.” He said excitedly.

You hummed happily, kissing his neck, “Stargazing – my favorite kind of date.”

Brian chuckled but it soon faded away as you kissed that particular spot on his neck which was driving him crazy. He sucked a deep breath, trying to compose himself, but it didn’t work at all.

You let out a shriek as he flipped you both, him on top of you, kissing everywhere. Your legs wrapped around his hips, like they had mind of their own.

The sound of ringing phone from the kitchen fell deaf on your and Brian’s ears.

[aboutrigmarole-blog]

Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.

Edwin Powell Hubble

[huntingtonlibrary]

Born on this day in 1889, astronomer Edwin Hubble made some of his most important discoveries right here in Pasadena, C.A. Working with the Hooker telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory in the 1920s, he determined the existence of galaxies beyond our own Milky Way, at a time when most astronomers believed our galaxy was singular to the universe.

Though he never won the Nobel Prize for his work (Nobel prizes weren’t awarded to astronomers during his time), NASA named the Hubble space telescope in his honor. Launched in 1990, it is the first of its kind to operate in space, offering scientists a view of the stars, galaxies, and planets without the obstruction and pollution of our own atmosphere.

ps. Hubble’s best friend was a cat named Nicolas Copernicus. Yes we’ve shared this picture before and no we are not going to stop cause LOOK AT IT

images:

Detail of two photographs in the upper left-hand corner of an exhibit panel for the 1931 annual meeting of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, labeled: "M 31 spiral in Andromeda" and "Milky Way, Scutum to Sagittarius". Additional leaves of text and two smaller photographs of stars complete the panel.

Edwin Powell Hubble seated at the Newtonian focus of the 100-inch reflecting telescope, Mount Wilson Observatory, ca. 1922. The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science Collection at The Huntington.

Photograph of two pages (156-157) from Edwin Hubble's observing logbook with a note on discovering Cepheid in the Andromeda Galaxy. ca. 1920.

Photograph (detail) of Edwin Powell Hubble, seated with his cat Nicolas Copernicus, behind an armillary sphere, March 1953. Edwin Hubble Papers, The Huntington. The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science Collection at The Huntington.

[astro-no-my-foot]

Andromeda May Not Spill the Tea, but it Will Spill the Milk

About the Galaxy

The Great Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy much like our own, and the closest large one of its kind to the Milky Way

It is also known as Messier 31 and has a catalog number NGC 224

Located in the northern constellation of Andromeda, the galaxy lies 2.48 million light years away from the earth, making it the most distant object visible to the naked eye

It is a part of the Local Group of Galaxies, which is a part of the Virgo Cluster contained in a supercluster of the same name

With a diameter of 200,000 light years, the galaxy hurtles through space with a velocity of 402,000 kilometres per hour or 112 kilometres per second

Interesting Facts

The first known mention of the Andromeda Galaxy was in 965 CE, in the Book of Fixed Stars written by Islamic astronomer al-Sufi

It was rediscovered in 1612 due to the invention of the telescope by Simon Marius, who described it as ‘the light of a candle seen through a horn’

For centuries, astronomers thought it to be a nebula that was a part of the Milky Way due to a lack of technology advanced enough to obtain clear pictures. It was thought to be composed of glowing gases, or even believed to be a solar system in formation by some. It wasn’t until the 1920s that Edwin Powell Hubble discovered the Cepheid variable stars in Andromeda and finally laid all theories to rest by proving it to be a separate galaxy of its own.

In 2016, Hubble images revealed that the Andromeda galaxy had an unusual double nucleus instead of the standard single stellar concentration in the centre, one of which is brighter than the other. However, the dimmer of the two has been confirmed as the true centroid, while the brighter one may be either a remnant of a cannibalized galaxy or a captured star cluster. 

A supermassive black hole of 6x10^7 has been found centred on the fainter, true nucleus. 

The most luminous globular cluster of the Local Group, called Mayall II has been found in the Andromeda galaxy.

The first supernova ever observed outside the Milky Way, was in the Andromeda galaxy in 1885 and designated as S Andromedae

News

In a vastly reassuring discovery made by the European spacecraft Gaia, the estimation of the monster collision set to occur between the two giants, the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy, has been delayed by over half a billion years. Previous estimations of 3.9 billion years for our home galaxy to survive have been debunked and our home turf now has 4.5 billion years in its sleeve. Of course, our earth may not be around to witness the most epic battle for dominance one could ever imagine. However, if the sun is still around by then, it might just find a tiny slot to fit in in the new Franken-galaxy formed. 

We Finally Know When Our Milky Way Will Crash Into the Andromeda Galaxy

When will the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies collide?

Tune in sometime this week for a small article on a constellation of the week!

-Riri