whoa... 'eye of God' photographed in space

[keyclone]

just a bit freaky how much it looks like a human eye.

if it blinks... well... it'd be a skidmark moment

[elsegundo]

i wonder how far it can see....

[Valdemarick]

A lot of people misunderstand the coloring they see in these space photographs. As pretty as they are, much of the time they are taken by telescopes that only detect light outside of the visible spectrum. Many of these photos are then "colorized" through post-processing as a way to distinguish the differing levels of whichever type of light they were originally taken in (radio telescopes, x-ray, gamma ray, etc...)

Still, they did do a nice job filling in the visual gaps our own eyes fail to see. :thumbup:

[Bettysue]

Well if we discount the fact that it has no pupil and, therefore, couldn't see at all I would say it can't see far due to extreme nearsightedness, because it has no retina in view :P

BTW Valdemarick thanks for explaining that, I work with satellite imagery all the time and trying to explain to people that some of the things on the display are not actually visible and have been falsely colored can be difficult at times. This image is really nothing more than a really fancy intensity plot, however, I can say that it is quite cool. However colored a bit differently it kinda loses a bit of the ooohhhh and aaahhh factor.

[Zal]

Looks like its pissed off. The way the eye is tilted a little and the red part just above it.

[Khatovar]

*Sigh* That's gorgeous. I love those images.

[Tasty]

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just a bit freaky how much it looks like a human eye.

if it blinks... well... it'd be a skidmark moment

Sauron? ... Is that you?


:P

[moog]

That's where he went when they destroyed The Ring

[Kaynin]

Why is it flat. And where is the light coming from. I suppose a close sun should be responsible for the light reflecting on the nebula or whatever, but why then is it brighter in the center bits and darker at the edges? Would seem the light comes from within..

Picture just makes no sense to me.

Unless. Because of the distances light travels, the light visible from the nebula comes from a sun faaaaar behind the nebula in a straight line with earth (what are the chances of that? :P ) and therefor the phenomena is brighter in the center because those lightwaves hit us strongest. :P

Space pictures are bad for my health..

[Valdemarick]

where is the light coming from.

Unless. Because of the distances light travels, the light visible from the nebula comes...

Please refer to my previous post and what Bettysue said regarding the coloration of these photos, for more information.

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