SNAP!

[#1]

Revealing dynamic and spectacular images, NASA's first space-based optical telescope confirmed an "expanding" universe, which provided the foundation for the Big Bang theory.     

  Saturn                                                                                                       Molecular Cloud

                   The Carina Nebula

Jupiter

                                                      Blue Nebula

    Star V838

Latest Hubble Update:

 Peering deep into the star-filled, ancient hub of our Milky Way (left), NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has found a rare class of oddball stars called blue stragglers. This is the first time such objects have been detected within our galaxy's bulge. Blue stragglers are so named because they seem to be lagging behind in their rate of aging compared with nearby older stars.

 The discovery is a spin-off from a seven-day-long survey conducted in 2006 called the Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search (SWEEPS). Hubble peered at and obtained variability information for 180,000 stars in the crowded central bulge of our galaxy, 26,000 light-years away.

Learn more about recent findings at NASA’s official Hubble Space Telescope site.

[#2]

These pictures are amazing! The distance of stars is mind-boggling; it feels like science fiction even though it isn't.  The information about the blue stragglers is fascinating. There is so much we don't know that our future will likely be filled with regular discoveries. Thanks for sharing this.

[#3]

We need to accept globally that we are a creation of 'design', and not accident. These kinds of photographs are just unexplicable beauty. Thankyou for showing the 'creator's' beautiful universe.

[#4]

I think just because it's beautiful it doesn't make it deliberate, a universe by "design" in the sense of some creator's grand plan. Something happened billions of years ago and the universe was born, and over millenia natural things have changed or grown or exploded. It's science, really. Where my sense of wonder comes in is on our own little planet where I can appreciate the beauty around me. Are they the work of a creator? Who knows? But does it matter? If it is, I don't think the creator is looking for credit.

[#5]

I think we should accept globally that there are many theories and beliefs about life, the universe and everything and that the answer "42" has just as much factual proof as "Intelligent Design".  Just because I believe that the Universe exists due to purely scientific reasons does not preclude, exclude or render irrevelant any other persons view or belief.  I just choose not to mandate that they share my belief.  To each their own.

These pictures are magnificent.  I regularly seek out Hubble pictures, I find it fascinating.  Thanks for sharing.

[#6]

I know plenty of people who have strong religious beliefs but still believe in evolution. For them it is not an either/or proposition. They are convinced by the abundant evidence supporting evolution, but they still believe in their deity. I find it horrifying when people ignore evolutionary evidence and suggest that anyone who believes in evolution is spiritually bankrupt.