My daughter says: This is the famous eagle nebula showing the "pillars of creation". The image is a combination of 10 80 s exposures in each filter (B, V, and R). The R filter definitely showed the most structure and detail, while the nebula hardly appeared in the B filter images at all. The new stars forming inside the pillars cause the surrounding dust to fluoresce and glow red.
If you didn't understand any of that, perhaps you need LaunchPad. That's the FREE workshop for writers funded by NASA. Its mission is "to provide a 'crash course' for twelve attendees in modern astronomy science through workshops, guest lectures, and observation through the University of Wyoming's two large telescopes."
Is that cool or what? Nancy Kress blogs her week at LaunchPad here.
I wonder if we could get other interesting organizations to educate writers for free. Like the Oregon Shakespeare festival. Or the LPGA. Or NPR. Even NASCAR.
Nominate an organization to fund a "crash course" in the comments! We can start a write-in campaign. (We writers are good at write-in campaigns.)
Absolutely beautiful. As a child, I was fascinated with the universe and wanted to be an astronomer....then I met math.
ReplyDeleteBut, I mean, if that photo doesn't take your breath away, there's something wrong with you.
I'm going to have to show this to my hubby!
ReplyDeleteI *do* understand that, and it makes me miss the observatory that was my second home in college. (And want to write about it, naturally.)
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool.
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