What the heck is this

Confusednewbie1552

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Jun 24, 2004
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slpaulson

Diamond Member
Jun 5, 2000
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It could be a galaxy.

Either that or it's a star from the Milky Way that was in the way. Given its brightness, that's my guess.
 

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
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I'm more interested in the squiggle at the bottom of the first picture, about 1/3 of the way across from the left. Wtf is that?? Can't be a galaxy, can it??
 

slpaulson

Diamond Member
Jun 5, 2000
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Originally posted by: DrPizza
I'm more interested in the squiggle at the bottom of the first picture, about 1/3 of the way across from the left. Wtf is that?? Can't be a galaxy, can it??

There's a pair of orbiting or colliding spiral galaxies around there, if that's what you're talking about.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
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Originally posted by: DrPizza
I'm more interested in the squiggle at the bottom of the first picture, about 1/3 of the way across from the left. Wtf is that?? Can't be a galaxy, can it??

Most everything in that picture is a galaxy.
 

Anubis

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Aug 31, 2001
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its most likely a star, a very big one that just happened to be in the right place reletive to the direction hubble was looking to make that happen,
 

manowar821

Diamond Member
Mar 1, 2007
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Lmao. Anubis is right. It's probably a star in the foreground.

I could be wrong, but with astronomy, I'm usually not. :p
 

MrPickins

Diamond Member
May 24, 2003
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Originally posted by: Safeway
And yea, the squiggle is a binary galaxy system.

Awesome looking pair of galaxies. They look so similar that at first I was wondering if the image was a result of gravitational lensing.
 

Blefuscu

Junior Member
Jul 4, 2007
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Originally posted by: PHiuR
a HUGE star

it's not huge. it's just much brighter than the galaxy. stars are spherical, and they do not have 4 spikes of light making a plus sign hanging out of them. it's an effect due to overexposure. if you took the same photo with the correct exposure to see that star, it would be a speck or round dot and the rest of the photo would be black.
 

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
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Originally posted by: Blefuscu
Originally posted by: PHiuR
a HUGE star

it's not huge. it's just much brighter than the galaxy. stars are spherical, and they do not have 4 spikes of light making a plus sign hanging out of them. it's an effect due to overexposure. if you took the same photo with the correct exposure to see that star, it would be a speck or round dot and the rest of the photo would be black.

there's a term for that effect but i can't think of it atm.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
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Originally posted by: slpaulson
Either that or it's a star from the Milky Way that was in the way. Given its brightness, that's my guess.

Yes, the bright object is a star in the Milky Way. Hubble is looking at a far away galaxy, using a long exposure time; any star in the Milky Way is many times closer, and will therefore appear quite large and bright.


Concerning the "spikes" from the star, I think that's just a result of the lens. Aberration, perhaps? Or just diffraction. Watch a baseball game at night; when it pans up to show the crowds, look at the lights. They'll also show those spikes.
 

iamaelephant

Diamond Member
Jul 25, 2004
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Jeff7 is correct. All foreground stars have that cross of light, which makes it simple to differentiate between foreground and background objects.
 

Confusednewbie1552

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Jun 24, 2004
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Thanks for the answers, it's pretty amazing how many galaxies let alone how many stars are in the universe, each of those pictures could have a trillion or something stars and you always wonder if theres people living there. And then you wonder if someone is taking pictures of our own galaxy and wondering if people live there. Very cool.