Hubble Captures a Starry Night

[HexMonkey]

Yet more stunning pictures from Hubble...
According to American scientists, these images bear "remarkable similarities to [Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night], complete with never-before-seen spirals of dust swirling across trillions of miles of space".

One story (quoted below) can be found at http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,62527,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_4

Vincent Van Gogh saw the night sky as nobody else did -- until now. New images from the Hubble Space Telescope show an expanding swirl of illuminated interstellar dust reminiscent of the painterly skyscape of Van Gogh's "Starry Night."

The images captured in early February depict a distant red giant star called V838 Monocerotis, located about 20,000 light-years from Earth. The star gave off a pulse of light that illuminated a turbulent cloud of dust and gas, says NASA, revealing the swirls and eddies shown in the pictures at left.

While V838 Monocerotis is similar to a nova in many ways, it is unique among observed stellar objects for its behavior and its intense red color, according to the space agency.

The expanding light from the star will continue to illuminate more distant dust clouds, changing their appearance as it does. The object will be visible at least through 2010, say astronomers.

The images (at left) are created by superimposing images from separate exposures through three different filters -- blue, green and near-infrared.

 

[virividox]

another reason why they should keep hubble imo

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

I am amazed at the speed of change in this object.

 

[eyelikeart]

Beautiful. I wonder if the absinthe had anything to do with Van Gogh's depiction?

 

[rainman::|:|]

Hey, leave absynthe out of this. The Green Goddess bows to no one.

When i was a child, starry night was one of my favorite pieces. This is a very interesting discovery, and very striking. And yes, it's a great example of why we should not kill the Hubbell for some rediculous pipe dreams.

paul