Time Traveling With Spitzer
While time travel is seemingly impossible, we can actually look back in time with our telescopes to learn about the conditions of our
universe in times past.
The Spitzer Space Telescope has found some very dim and distant galaxies located at the edge of our universe that have never been seen before.
Approximately 12.5 billion light-years away from Earth, we’re seeing these galaxies as when our universe was just one billion years old. With Spitzer's infrared capability, astronomers have been able to take infrared portraits and even "weigh" many of these early galaxies.
"Understanding the mass and chemical makeup of the universe's first galaxies and then taking snapshots of galaxies at different ages, gives us a better idea of how gas, dust and metals– the material that went into making our Sun, solar system, and Earth –has changed throughout the Universe's history," said Spitzer scientist Dr. Ranga Ram Chary.
The images coming down from the STS-123 mission have been nothing short of
spectacular.
The pictures have included amazing EVA shots, images of the astronauts hard at work (and having fun, too) and stunning photos of the ever-growing International Space Station.
Here are just a few of the latest images from the mission, and they're all so great, I've decided to give each one an award.
This one gets the award for Best Group Photo Ever of the Shuttle, ISS and Earth. On Monday, shuttle Endeavour undocked from the ISS, and after the obligatory fly-around, the astronauts snapped this picture as the shuttle separated from the station.
In my mind, this is one of the most amazing images from space ever. And there's more….
Award Winning Images from the STS-123 Gallery
Written by Nancy Atkinson
This image gets the award for Best Color Contrast Image of the ISS. Backdropped by the airglow of Earth's horizon and the blackness of space, the ISS hangs on Earth's limb. What an awesome view that must be live and in person.
Obviously, this image gets the Best Moon Photo for the STS-123 Mission. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Framed by different components of the International Space Station, a full moon is visible in this view above Earth's horizon and airglow. I'd like to give credit where credit is due and say which astronaut snapped this image, but NASA only says the picture was taken by an STS-123 crewmember who was on the station while Space Shuttle Endeavour was docked with the ISS.
This has to be one of the Best Aurora Picture Ever Taken From Space. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around having the chance to look down to see an aurora. The Aurora Borealis glows beautifully green in this images that looks northward across the Gulf of Alaska, over a low pressure area (cloud vortex). This image was taken on March 21, 2008 at 09:08:46 (GMT) with a 28 mm lens from the nadir point of 47.9 degrees north latitude and 146.8 degreees west longitude.
Let's give a round of applause for the crews of STS-123 and the ISS who
accomplished so much during the mission with five EVA's, adding the
Japanese Logistics Module to the station and constructing Dextre the
robot handyman. Plus they are responsible for all the great images from
the mission, too.
Shuttle Endeavor will attempt to land on Wednesday, March 26 at 7:05:08 p.m EDT. As of now, the weather looks good for landing in Florida
WOW...From
1 comment on Spitzer Time Travel & Award Winning Images from the STS-123 Gallery
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martne
said 4 months ago
The Spitzer Space Telescope is so cool!
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