Thread: The most important pictures

This is the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image. They pointed our greatest telescope into a pitch black spot for 11 or 12 days to record this image. What makes it fascinating is the scale behind this image. Knowing, like in gismo's first post, the size of our planet and seeing it against the backdrop of space is a humbling experience. Knowing our Sun, in comparison to many stars out there, isn't particularly large or exciting, and knowing that in our galaxy alone, there are millions of stars and planetary systems, the sheer scope behind this image reduces me past words. Every spot of light in this picture is a galaxy, so far away that it is measured in billions of light years. I'm trying to avoid using big numbers to describe this because the concept is, for me at least, so large that my mind just blanks and cannot comprehend the real size of it. The scale makes me recoil if I think about it too long, but seeing that image, seeing the vastness of the universe, the great distances between everything and really sitting down and thinking about it... man it really puts things into perspective.

also, on a lighter note

self-immolating monk

tiananmen square protestor

Originally Posted by coqauvin

This is the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image. They pointed our greatest telescope into a pitch black spot for 11 or 12 days to record this image. What makes it fascinating is the scale behind this image. Knowing, like in gismo's first post, the size of our planet and seeing it against the backdrop of space is a humbling experience. Knowing our Sun, in comparison to many stars out there, isn't particularly large or exciting, and knowing that in our galaxy alone, there are millions of stars and planetary systems, the sheer scope behind this image reduces me past words. Every spot of light in this picture is a galaxy, so far away that it is measured in billions of light years. I'm trying to avoid using big numbers to describe this because the concept is, for me at least, so large that my mind just blanks and cannot comprehend the real size of it. The scale makes me recoil if I think about it too long, but seeing that image, seeing the vastness of the universe, the great distances between everything and really sitting down and thinking about it... man it really puts things into perspective.

I knew someone would bring this up. In my opinion, the picture isn't that amazing. There are plenty of more stunning images from space. I'm a numbers man so I prefer just hearing the scientific notation of possible planets and etc.

It's a cool image, but the implications don't change anything really.