The Man Who Changed the Universe
The Man Who Changed the Universe
The Hubble space telescope has brought us mesmerizing images of our universe. The most famous and awe-inspiring image is called Pillars of Creation.
Credits: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
These five light-year long towering tendrils of cosmic dust and gas sit at the heart of the Eagle Nebula. They are part of an active star-forming region within the nebula and hide newborn stars in their wispy columns.
So, why is the telescope named Hubble?
Less than a century ago, many scientists believed there was just one galaxy, the Milky Way. All that changed on December 30th, 1924, when American astronomer Edwin Hubble announced he had evidence that the Milky Way galaxy was just one of many galaxies in an ever-expanding universe.
Today we estimate that there are over two trillion galaxies in the observable universe.
NASA felt that naming their Large Space Telescope project for Hubble was a fitting tribute to a man who forever changed our universe.
The Shot
This photograph was taken March 14th in Death Valley, California. I’ve described Aguereberry Point and the horrible “road” to get there in two previous Friday Photos. At an elevation of 6,433 feet, it is the best location to view sunrise in the park.
That is, if you don’t mind violating nearly every rule of your rental car agreement.
Jon Christofersen, Mike Loebach, and I arrived in the dark around 5 AM. We photographed the sky as the Milky Way was just beginning to fade in the pre-dawn light. Venus (between the left edge and the Milky Way) was so bright it looked like the moon to the camera. Mars was just below and to the right.
The sun to our east (and light pollution from Las Vegas 150 miles away) was starting to light up the eastern sky and a few clouds. We moved slightly to our right for a better foreground and waited for enough light to take a quality foreground image.
Between photographs, I was spellbound trying to wrap my head around the universe that Hubble described with over two trillion galaxies besides our own Milky Way.
Later, in Photoshop, I combined the sky from the first image and the foreground in the second image. It looked just like what I saw and celebrated that beautiful morning overlooking the majesty of Death Valley.
Thanks for looking,
Chuck Derus