Great pic of the shuttle & hubble...

[Neil]

The NASA space shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Space Telescope are seen in silhouette, side by side during solar transit at 12:17p.m. EDT, on May 13, 2009, from west of Vero Beach, Florida in this image released by NASA May 14. The two spaceships were at an altitude of 600 km (375 miles) and they zipped across the sun in only 0.8 seconds.

http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/shuttle_05_18/s19_19009813.jpg

[fartpants]

wow kinda makes you realise how insignificant we are

[capncnut]

wow kinda makes you realise how insignificant we are
Well, when you consider that if you laid 109 Earth's in a line, it would span the Sun's equator from one side to the other. Mind you, that is only if you are looking at it from one side.

So let's do the math...

<counts on fingers>

...basically 1, 300, 000 Earth's could fit inside the Sun. Oh, and there's this:

http://askstarwalker.com/images/pic1_antares_betelgeuse_aldebaran_regel.jpeg

Insignificant enough for ya? :D

[AcesandEights]

Paging Dr. Freud. Paging Dr. Freud.




Cool capture of a pic, though.

[Craig]

I don't know how anyone, even if they don't really understand it, couldn't find this sort of stuff just incredible.

[bassman]

Awesome picture.


Betelguese? There's a planet called Betelguese?:shifty:

[DawnGirl27]

Wow. It's hard sometimes to just think about size in relation to other things, but when there's a visual it really brings it into focus. Thanks for the pics, Neil and Capn! :p

[Mike70]

Betelguese? There's a planet called Betelguese?:shifty:

a star in fact but yes that is its name. it is one of the most well known stars since it forms the right shoulder of the constellation Orion. the name in arabic means something along the lines of "armpit of the central one."


the colored arrow in this pic points to Betelgeuse. you've seen it countless times. it is one of the brightest things in the sky and is a major part of what is, arguably, the most well known constellation.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Position_Alpha_Ori.png

in fact, Betelgeuse is so large and so close to earth (in astronomical terms) it was the first thing actually photographed as a disk outside of the solar system.
http://www.opencourse.info/astronomy/introduction/19.stars_death_high-mass/betelgeuse_hst.jpg

[DawnGirl27]

Thanks for the info and pics, Mike. I've always loved star gazing ever since I was young, and my brother and I would drag lawn chairs out and look up at the sky and try to figure out what constellation was what. :)

[Cody]

Space is so fascinating. If anyone ever has $30,000,000 to spare, Russia will gladly take you up in their shuttle :) True fact btw.

[capncnut]

Betelguese?

Betelguese?

Betelguese?

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/2538/494710-beetlejuice7_super.jpg


:D

[DawnGirl27]

capn, you said the last one before I could find the zipper...uh, that didn't come out right (neither did that), but you know what I mean. ;) :p

[fartpants]

capn you crack me up :lol: :lol: :lol: