Tech | October 07, 2008 | 18 comments

Cat's eye Hubble remix: what our sun will look like in 5 billion years

source: http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/281320main_image_1189_946-710.jpg

Image
WorldPeaceTV
And now, for a brief escape of the horrors of our present world...

Staring across interstellar space, the alluring Cat's Eye Nebula lies 3,000 light-years from Earth. The Cat's Eye (NGC 6543) represents a brief, yet glorious, phase in the life of a sun-like star. This nebula's dying central star may have produced the simple, outer pattern of dusty concentric shells by shrugging off outer layers in a series of regular convulsions. But the formation of the beautiful, more complex inner structures is not well understood.

Here, Hubble Space Telescope archival image data have been reprocessed to create another look at the cosmic cat's eye. Compared to well-known Hubble pictures, the alternative processing strives to sharpen and improve the visibility of details in light and dark areas of the nebula and also applies a more complex color palette. Of course, gazing into the Cat's Eye, astronomers may well be seeing the fate of our sun, destined to enter its own planetary nebula phase of evolution ... in about 5 billion years.

Image Credit: NASA, MAST, STScI, AURA and Vicent Peris (OAUV/PTeam)

I sure hope we will still have Hubble since it has malfunctioned recently. The shuttle is contemplating another flight since it canceled the last one because of the deteriorating telescope that looks into the past.
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18 comments // Cat's eye Hubble remix: what our sun will look like in 5 billion years

  • themanwithadog
    • 0
      themanwithadog  

    • WorldPeaceTV I will have to take the experts word for this one as checking my diary I will not be around to see this beautiful sight.

      Top marks for out of this world experience

    • 3 years ago
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  

    • Although we won't be here to experience it, we will still be a part of it - the matter which is our bodies will be a part of it. That same matter has probably been part of other people's and animals', and plants', bodies in the past, and will be part of other such bodies in the future.

    • 3 years ago
  • tokyo_chic
  • asherp
  • Neghie
  • metalcookiesxy70
    • 0
      metalcookiesxy70  

    • I'd probably be dead by the time 5 billoin years from now..but yeah beautiful. We are pretty tiny, compared to all the unseen huge, solid, planets that are yet to be explored! We don't have much time to explore them all.!

    • 3 years ago
  • Quiggles
  • Dmitri_Molotov
  • kennymotown
  • dianaskin
  • jubal
    • 0
      jubal  
    • dianaskin:

      They look like reflections of the glass disk inside the Hubble that is used to create the images. The cameras have to have the aperture remain open for long periods of time in order to capture the light, that would explain some of the 'slip and slide' trails.

      I have that program. What settings did you have when you were browsing and in what section of the sky are they to be found?

      They kind of look like the Critters from the video "ufo greatest story ever denied". And they look kinda like Death Stars from Star Wars.

      Very curious things and sights.

    • 3 years ago
  • 24French
    • 0
      24French  

    • I like the Hubble pictures better...more cat-eye like. But still, looking into the dust lanes of our future is a good reality check on the meltdowns and crises of today. The all-consuming human drama is but the slightest punctuation mark deep within a someday destroyed sun, which is also but a punctuation mark and anyways will slo mo into extinction only to lend its remains to some other phenomenon that takes thousands of years to form. This is hope.

    • 3 years ago
  • BFAM_RVS
    • 0
      BFAM_RVS  

    • I love science in all its forms, but how much fucking money was wasted getting this picture cuz I don't give a shit about 5 billion years from now....

    • 3 years ago
  • Quiggles
  • outtheinside
  • Demmie
    • 0
      Demmie  

    • How beautiful. Makes you think,we are just a tiny speck in an amazing and infinate universe. thanks for sending this to me.
      Peace!

    • 3 years ago
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