I am still amazed when I cruise the web and find some great astronomy site about which I was previously unaware. The latest is Sky Factory, done by gifted amateur astronomer Davide De Martin. He has several beautiful images (taken from public domain images from the Palomar observatory and reprocessed for color) that are displayed at very high resolution, and then you can pan and zoom around them with some fun software he has on the site.
I spent quite a bit of time playing around near Orion’s Belt. I saw quite a bit of nebulosity I’ve never seen before! Amazing!
He also has phenomenal wallpapers for your desktop, like this one of supernova remnant Simeis147:
Man, I love supernovae remnants!
So go there and play. But set your alarm– otherwise you’ll be there a very long time, investigating the cosmos with incredible detail.
November 14th, 2005 at 4:35 am
Gee thanks…
You know I was planning on cleaning up my house this afternoon- my dads been away 4 a while… it’s a bit of a mess…
ah well…
There goes another evening…
Can’t-tear-myself- away…
November 14th, 2005 at 6:38 am
COOOL!
November 14th, 2005 at 6:52 am
Great, I have a ton of grading to do and have yet another reason to procrastinate!
Thanks for the website, will use it for my Astro course this spring.
November 14th, 2005 at 9:31 am
I’m always amazed how great astronomy is done all the time from old photographs. Like when they find a new asteroid or NEO and are able to determine its orbit from old plates. Or the guy who found hundreds of comets by reviewing old SOHO images.
There’s so much data out there and not enough eyeballs to analyse it with.
November 14th, 2005 at 10:59 am
There’s so much to see and explore in this wonderful cosmos we live in.
The only reason I would want immortality is so that I could see it all and marvel. SO many things would absolutely take my breath away.
*sigh* Damn this simple biological body that was born to die.
November 14th, 2005 at 12:27 pm
Cool it’s like Google Earth.
And this is just a pin hole view of the universe.
I want to be immortal too… THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!
November 14th, 2005 at 3:29 pm
Kim! You may have noticed both ads are running on my site right now (of course, thanks for running them, and I hope you get lots of business!). I assumed when I accepted the ad, it would not load until tomorrow (that was indicated on the ad panel), but it loaded immediately! I have emailed blogads about that, but they have not replied.
November 14th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
What a find! How come I didn’t find this thing before? I love images that make me go “oooh, shiny”
November 14th, 2005 at 5:46 pm
Phil, I have put together a Space Blogroll. You’re already on it, you don’t have to do anything. However, if you would like to display the Space Blogroll on your site, you are welcome to do so; the code for that is available here.
November 15th, 2005 at 3:03 pm
TJ, that biological body of yours was not only norn to die, it was born to reproduce, too.
Also, excellent pics. Thanks, BA, for drawing another fine site to our attention.
November 15th, 2005 at 3:28 pm
You’re right, Nigel. And it already has. My little Skepchick is nearly 15!
Phil, I’ll second Nigel’s gratitude.
November 15th, 2005 at 6:40 pm
So much for getting an early night tonight! Cool site!
November 18th, 2005 at 2:29 pm
Dear Phil and other,
thank you for your kind words about my works!
Bye-bye!
Davide
November 21st, 2005 at 10:11 am
Wow. Seeing pictures like this is amazing. Thanks.