Your Home~ From 114 Million Miles Away~

[Rasa1111]

Ever wondered what our tiny section of space looks like from distant worlds?

Wonder no more, lol
This image was taken 114 million miles away from 'home'.

The distance from Earth, to Sol, is only 93 million miles!

Simply, tiny specs of light, amongst trillions+ of other specs of light, in a Universe that never ends.....

Earth and Her Moon, are the bright spots , close to the bottom-left of the image.
http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=169559&stc=1&d=1284574103
(Click here for full size image) (http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/pics/CW0181616382B_RA_3_stretch.png)

when this image was captured. The direction of north is very nearly toward the bottom of the image, and Earth is located near the boundary of the constellations Libra and Scorpius.


Often we look through telescopes and see "double stars", or binary stars, and wonder what could be there....

As distant relatives sit upon their own tiny world asking themselves the same things, while they sit and gaze at these little Jewels in the sky.


In the lower left portion of this image, the Earth can be seen, as well as the much smaller Moon to Earth's right.

When MESSENGER took this image, a distance of 183 million kilometers (114 million miles) separated the spacecraft and Earth.
To provide context for this distance, the average separation between the Earth and the Sun is about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles). Though it is a beautiful, thought-provoking picture, viewing our planet from far away was not the main reason that the mission team planned the collection of this image.

Instead, this image was acquired as part of MESSENGER's campaign to search for vulcanoids, small rocky objects that have been postulated to exist in orbits between Mercury and the Sun.

Though no vulcanoids have yet been detected, the MESSENGER spacecraft is in a unique position to look for smaller and fainter vulcanoids than has ever before been possible.

MESSENGER's vulcanoid searches occur near perihelion passages, when the spacecraft's orbit brings it closest to the Sun. Today is another such perihelion, and MESSENGER is taking a new set of images to search for tiny asteroids lurking close to the Sun.
Full Article Here (http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?gallery_id=2&image_id=388)

*Ad Astra Per Aspera*. <3

[Denis Krajnc]

Amazing shot.

[pwnst*r]

Wow. Talk about perspective.

[NCLI]

We truly are completely and utterly insignificant.

[Rasa1111]

yeah for sure. :)

the hubble deep field image is another sweet bit of perspective...
millions upon millions of galaxies..
(just about every speck of light seen here, is an entire galaxy~)
http://muse.univ-lyon1.fr/IMG/jpg/v_ultra-deep_field_02-2.jpg
in a section of sky no larger than this> {____}.
All able to fit within your pinky nail held out at arms length. :D

I have an amazing image that Im trying to find, that really puts
things into perspective... Ill post when I find it..

"We are star stuff"
~Carl Sagan.

[Spice Weasel]

Wow. No other word do describe it.

Where is the sun, by the way?

[98cwitr]

Wow. No other word do describe it.

Where is the sun, by the way?

I was wondering the same thing

[Rasa1111]

Here is the image I was looking for..

Thankfully someone else has posted it and I didn't have to search through TB's worth of files or thousands of google images.. .. lol

http://img197.imageshack.us/i/spaceh.jpg/

It may be best to save it to your PC, then view it,
It is a very large image. ;)

Talk about perspective! lol :D

[pwnst*r]

We truly are completely and utterly insignificant.

I wouldn't go that far. We're the only intelligent life as of yet.

[Rasa1111]

I believe the Sun would be off, and to the left of the image.
Out of view (obviously) lol

I could be wrong, but I think that's were it would be in this image.

[Rasa1111]

I wouldn't go that far. We're the only intelligent life as of yet.

That we (the masses) are currently aware of.
But simple logic tells us that we cannot be the only intelligent life.
Any good scientist/astronomer today won't argue with that. :KS

[pwnst*r]

That we (the masses) are currently aware of.
But simple logic tells us that we cannot be the only intelligent life.
Any good scientist/astronomer today won't argue with that. :KS

Until there's proof, my statement stands.

[Rasa1111]

lol, ok.
it stands.
for you. ;)

[pwnst*r]

For most.

It's okay, dreamers are good too.

[NCLI]

I wouldn't go that far. We're the only intelligent life as of yet.

We're the only intelligent life found after exploring an infinitesimally small portion of the Universe? The mind boggles...

[whiskeylover]

There are around 10^11 galaxies, each with approximately 10^11 stars, and, thus, 10^22 potential solar systems, with planets in the universe. I think there is a fairly good chance that one more of the 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 solar systems supports life (intelligent or not).



This thread has a huge potential of either turning nasty or "religious". :popcorn:

[Rasa1111]

For most.

It's okay, dreamers are good too.

well, "most" also have faith in, and trust in their governments.
"most" are also glued to television sets and believe what the media tells them.
"most" fill their bodies with chemicals and poisons called 'food' and "medicine" and have no problem with it.
"most" .. well..
yeah, I think the picture is pretty clear .

Dreamers.. lol
yeah, it's okay. ):P

[NCLI]

well, "most" also have faith in, and trust in their governments.
"most" are also glued to television sets and believe what the media tells them.
"most" fill their bodies with chemicals and poisons called 'food' and "medicine" and have no problem with it.
"most" .. well..
yeah, I think the picture is pretty clear .

Dreamers.. lol
yeah, it's okay. ):P

"Most" actually require undisputable evidence in order to believe an extraordinary claim. Aliens having been to Earth is an extraordinary claim(And considering the size of the universe, quite unlikely too.). Where is this undisputable evidence you must have?

Also, how is food poison!? Don't you eat??? And have you never used medicine and gotten better? Medicine abuse and overuse are definitely bad, but medicine used properly has saved a huge number of lives.

[Rasa1111]

Pretty sure I didn't say "aliens have been to earth"
Though many , many cases would tell otherwise. lol

I simply said "intelligent life elsewhere, has to exist"

Sorry this is turning into some kind of debate,
That was not my vision at all when creating the thread.

God forbid, everyone just take some nice pictures for what they are.
Nice pictures.

Why everything must turn into a debate is beyond me,
But I don't care to have such a debate here.

and of course I eat. lol :lol:

also pretty sure I didnt say "food is poison"

More like~ the majority of foods we buy today, are filled with more chemicals than it is filled with nutrients.

Processed foods. (the majority of what is available in 'super'markets).
Is filled with chemicals that most people cannot even pronounce or understand.

(and the majority of "medicines" today, are the poisons)~ though half of the chemicals in the food are also poison. lol

I eat organic food, raw foods, unprocessed food. lol
Food that doesnt have a huge list of unpronounceable/unknown things in its ingredient list.

Anyway, Im not here to debate, and not here to argue,
simply here to share, and learn. :)

If you guys want to turn everything under the sun (and beyond) into a debate, go for it.

Have fun! :D

[scouser73]

Thank you for posting http://img197.imageshack.us/i/spaceh.jpg/ as I'd never seen that before, and it does bring it into perspective for me, as for the photograph that was taken 114 million miles away...wow.

We surely cannot be the only intelligent life in the universe, that is my belief anyway.

[Shpongle]

Wow , thanks for sharing rasa. Off I go to find some space documentaries

[CharlesA]

That's a hell of a reality check.

[Dustin2128]

That we (the masses) are currently aware of.
But simple logic tells us that we cannot be the only intelligent life.
Any good scientist/astronomer today won't argue with that. :KS
We're not the only intelligent life out there, no doubt, but I had an interesting idea the other day: since intelligent life would probably only evolve on planets with extreme competitive and environmental stresses, would planets with complex multicellular life but lacking intelligent life be paradise planets?

Also, you should see the view from the new horizons probe, it's so far out earth occupies a single pixel.

[Rasa1111]

Thank you for posting http://img197.imageshack.us/i/spaceh.jpg/ as I'd never seen that before, and it does bring it into perspective for me, as for the photograph that was taken 114 million miles away...wow.

We surely cannot be the only intelligent life in the universe, that is my belief anyway.

hiyah scouser!
Most welcome mate, thanks for commenting. :)
Happy you liked them. :D It is images like these that make me realize that we truly are just star dust.
What is left from 'dying' stars.

and most definitely. lol ;)

<3

Shpongle,
no problem mate, glad you enjoyed it. <3
I have a list of some great docus. on space, ill dig thru my files and see what i can pull up for you. :)

Charles A,~
haha, most definitely man. :KS
thanks for the comment. :)


Dustin~
We're not the only intelligent life out there, no doubt, but I had an interesting idea the other day: since intelligent life would probably only evolve on planets with extreme competitive and environmental stresses, would planets with complex multicellular life but lacking intelligent life be paradise planets?

Also, you should see the view from the new horizons probe, it's so far out earth occupies a single pixel.

Interesting thought , I to often think of these kind of things. lol

Well,
If said planets did harbor intelligent life...
and if that 'intelligent' life was anything like the 'intelligent' life on Earth,
I think I probably would find the planets with only multicellular life, to be more like a paradise, for sure! lol

But, to be serious,
multicellular life can exist in a wide range of habitats,
habitats that we once thought were impossible for any living thing to thrive in, yet, we keep finding more and more "life" in places that we never dreamed life would be possible ..
(nuclear reactors, underwater volcanoes,) to name just a couple.

So perhaps those planets with only multicellular life,
would be like paradise.. to the life that thrives in that environment, but not necessarily for people. ..

But I guess "paradise" is kind of relative,
like a dim, Smokey den might be paradise to some folks,
but for others it would be hard to stay in for very long.

or when it rains, some people absolutely hate it, while others love it.

bad examples i know, I just woke up, please forgive me ramblings. lol


But, even with all of the environmental stresses that Earth goes through,
I think if the human race as a whole, removed our heads from our sphincters and behaved, and treated each other, and the planet like truly intelligent beings ought to do,
That this Earth would be a paradise,
an oasis in space. lol

But we, as a whole, are like children who still havent learned the simple concept of right from wrong.

Playground Earth.

I think whatever planet, whatever conditions,
can be paradise, if only the inhabitants of those planets
learned how to behave, as a whole.
Be it "intelligent" life, or multicellular "unintelligent" life.

If there is harmony between all living things in a given environment/condition , I think paradise will naturally follow.


meh, maybe I should have had my tea before logging on. :lol:
Sorry if im making no sense (good chance).
I dont feel very satisfied with my words at the moment. lol

Thanks for the cool replies mates. <3 :KS

[pricetech]

Interesting pics. I used to follow the US space program very closely. Not so much these days, but I still like to look at the pictures and read the occasional story.

[ubunterooster]

We truly are completely and utterly insignificant.
Agreed. I look at a car a half-mile away and it looks far....