Comments on: The darkness and the light

By: JB of Brisbane

JB of Brisbane — Thu, 10 May 2012 05:08:20 +0000

@Chris #3 – “No, that’s a completely different phenomenon.” – Miles O’Brien.

By: the crustybastard

the crustybastard — Thu, 10 May 2012 03:45:11 +0000

Who wrote this? It’s brilliant!

/came her from fark.com

By: wodun

wodun — Thu, 10 May 2012 02:06:10 +0000

Huh, imagine that. Things exist that we cannot perceive with our senses. This is certainly a reminder that so much exists outside our perceptions.

By: Michael Simmons

Michael Simmons — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:55:31 +0000

@arabwhipmonk

I initially assumes the same.
Perhaps the cloud is so dense that a stars energy is being blocked and we can only see the faint heating of the surrounding cloud that makes it out.

@ Dan Batcheldor
Thank you

I think a huge amount of information could be gathered from a false colour image of the cloud showing blue for the parts moving towards use and red for those moving away.

A few more questions.
What would be the effect of a black hole passing though the cloud? Could it be detected in the Xray region? if so could the cloud be used to constrain the density of black holes in the region of the cloud?

What is the size of this cloud?

What would the passage of a normal star though this cloud look like?

The structures in the cloud to the right almost look like holes punched though the cloud.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:30:40 +0000

“So when you do peer around you, and take in your environment, your surroundings, your home, look again. You are surrounded by the invisible, permeated by it… but always remember, it was invisible only until we chose to look for it. We created the means necessary to do so, and when we did the Universe opened up before us.”

Wonderful writing. Made my day to read it.

By: Slam1263

Slam1263 — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:40:35 +0000

Dude.

Dude, I am so high right now, I can see near-infared, and x-rays.

By: arcblast

arcblast — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:49:57 +0000

Wow! I love how your presentation of the images has just as much impact as the photos themselves! I had to go back and read it aloud! Well done, sir!

By: John

John — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:34:58 +0000

@8 Russell:
There are a few ways you can get that dust, but often if there’s that much of it you’re looking at the remains of old, dead stars. Some stars collapse when they get too old to keep burning, but others explode. If they explode, they blow out heavy elements which, if gravity does what gravity does, can eventually get all pulled into a ball and ignite, creating a new star. If that’s what created this dust (and it’s certainly possible that that’s the cause) then you know it didn’t come from out solar system – it came from one far, far away in both space and time.

I don’t know how you feel about Wikipedia as a resource, but I find it pretty spot on for pure academics. If you’re interested in learning more about that process (and others that could create so much dust out in space) start with the page on “Stellar evolution” and click on through. There’s a lot of good, fascinating stuff, and many of the sources cited are free to access.

By: Russell

Russell — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:34:09 +0000

There’s that “dust” again. Where does that much dust come from…its pretty dusty in space.
I saw the web page that had a microscopic view of space dust and a description of it, that it may be reddish color or other depending on what it is made of. It was collected form our solar system. Ok that makes sense because we have planets, asteroids and such flying around here.

Now I am wondering where all this dust comes from way out there in the middle of nowhere??? That much! How did it all get there?

By: Laurie

Laurie — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:40:14 +0000

It’s the Time Field!
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Cracks