The amount of stars in the Andromeda galaxy is mind-blowing (picture)

More Than Mortal · January 21, 2015, 10:50:37 AM

Zoomable image; each point of light is a star.

Looks like we'll be revising up our estimate of one trillion stars.

TB · January 21, 2015, 10:53:35 AM

Wow....
That's incredible.
I mean it.
I am stunned by this.

cxfhvxgkcf-56:7 · January 21, 2015, 10:55:49 AM

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TB · January 21, 2015, 10:56:16 AM

I.... I need to go get something to drink....

Jester · January 21, 2015, 10:56:48 AM

Its so beautiful.

SO BEAUTIFUL

True Turquoise · January 21, 2015, 11:08:30 AM

well shit..

Tyger · January 21, 2015, 11:12:05 AM

That's at least like 30 stars

TB · January 21, 2015, 11:14:24 AM

Quote from: Tyger on January 21, 2015, 11:12:05 AM

That's at least like 30 stars

Zoom in.
EDIT: oh lol I gotcha

Tyger · January 21, 2015, 11:15:22 AM

Quote from: TBlocks on January 21, 2015, 11:14:24 AM

Quote from: Tyger on January 21, 2015, 11:12:05 AM
That's at least like 30 stars
Zoom in.

>the joke

>the tblock

TB · January 21, 2015, 11:17:10 AM

Quote from: Tyger on January 21, 2015, 11:15:22 AM

Quote from: TBlocks on January 21, 2015, 11:14:24 AM
Quote from: Tyger on January 21, 2015, 11:12:05 AM
That's at least like 30 stars
Zoom in.

>the joke

>the tblock

I caught it just after the quote.
But it was too late

BaconShelf · January 21, 2015, 11:18:50 AM

Holy shit.

Super Irish · January 21, 2015, 11:19:56 AM

ITT:

But seriously, not sure if all those grainy bits when zoomed in are just the camera quality or they're even more stars. We'll probably get more detail as we get better and better telescopes (IIRC a new one was made recently), and as the galaxy comes closer to it's merging.

Tyger · January 21, 2015, 11:21:54 AM

Fun fact, my university has the largest telescope on the us east coast

The Lord Slide Rule · January 21, 2015, 11:35:19 AM

Quote from: Tyger on January 21, 2015, 11:21:54 AM

Fun fact, my university has the largest telescope on the us east coast

where's that?

The Lord Slide Rule · January 21, 2015, 11:39:44 AM

>your face when that bright bit in the middle is the majority of the mass in the galaxy
>stars and gas swirling around a supermassive blackhole with the mass of billions of suns

hnnng

Sandtrap · January 21, 2015, 11:48:47 AM

-Sees galaxy.
-"Oh hey a galaxy, neat."
-Reads Meta's post
-Picks a spot
-Zooms in continuously

Spoiler

I seriously can't tell if that's just grainy image when you zoom in of if that's Hubble on steroids showing us once again how massive everything is.

1. Once more with feeling, this is an expanse of space we will never truly be able to explore completely. The distance, and the nummber of everything is staggering.

2. It sucks to know that in all that space, we're bound to our world, our one, and only world and we can't seem to pull our shit together and realize how special it is.

3. I refuse to believe there's a god or diety in all of that, focusing it's attention specifically on our almost insignificant dot in the sky. Either that or he's looking at everything and simultaneously telling other life forms across all of space about the good book and about Earth and how everything started there with Adam and Eve.

Tyger · January 21, 2015, 11:51:13 AM

Quote from: SexyPiranha on January 21, 2015, 11:35:19 AM

Quote from: Tyger on January 21, 2015, 11:21:54 AM
Fun fact, my university has the largest telescope on the us east coast
where's that?

actually doing a little googling That information is outdated as fuck

The Lord Slide Rule · January 21, 2015, 11:52:51 AM

Quote from: Tyger on January 21, 2015, 11:51:13 AM

Quote from: SexyPiranha on January 21, 2015, 11:35:19 AM
Quote from: Tyger on January 21, 2015, 11:21:54 AM
Fun fact, my university has the largest telescope on the us east coast
where's that?
actually doing a little googling That information is outdated as fuck

kek

What's the biggest one now?

The Lord Slide Rule · January 21, 2015, 11:53:48 AM

This image crashed my phone.

cxfhvxgkcf-56:7 · January 21, 2015, 11:55:02 AM

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Tyger · January 21, 2015, 11:56:23 AM

Quote from: SexyPiranha on January 21, 2015, 11:52:51 AM

Quote from: Tyger on January 21, 2015, 11:51:13 AM
Quote from: SexyPiranha on January 21, 2015, 11:35:19 AM
Quote from: Tyger on January 21, 2015, 11:21:54 AM
Fun fact, my university has the largest telescope on the us east coast
where's that?
actually doing a little googling That information is outdated as fuck
kek

What's the biggest one now?

I'm pretty sure it's the naval acadamy's, it's hard to find a definite answer

The Lord Slide Rule · January 21, 2015, 11:59:58 AM

Quote from: / on January 21, 2015, 11:55:02 AM

the best part is that Milkomeda will be an elliptical galaxy

spiral galaxies are so overrated

will spark a long period of high frequency star formation

AngryBrute · January 21, 2015, 12:02:21 PM

cxfhvxgkcf-56:7 · January 21, 2015, 12:02:37 PM

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The Lord Slide Rule · January 21, 2015, 12:04:21 PM

Quote from: / on January 21, 2015, 12:02:37 PM

Quote from: SexyPiranha on January 21, 2015, 11:59:58 AM
Quote from: / on January 21, 2015, 11:55:02 AM
the best part is that Milkomeda will be an elliptical galaxy

spiral galaxies are so overrated
will spark a long period of high frequency star formation
well as long as we don't get flung out of the galaxy completely or end up near the super-massive black hole we'll be fine

the chance of two stars colliding is exactly 0

eh earth will be long gone by then so no worry

I meant to imply that more new stars means that the resultant galaxy may be able to support life for far longer than they would by themselves

big sponge · January 21, 2015, 12:04:41 PM

I thought this was supposed to be mind blowing.

Korra · January 21, 2015, 12:05:34 PM

cxfhvxgkcf-56:7 · January 21, 2015, 12:07:08 PM

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The Lord Slide Rule · January 21, 2015, 12:09:48 PM

Oh yeah, the grainyness is definitely a deal w/ the cam and not stars. Keep in mind though a lot of the stars aren't bright enough for us to see them from here (red dwarf/g class stars) and a lot of them are hidden by the dust in the foreground.

This is actually a false color image, the actual view is a good bit dimmer.

Super Irish · January 21, 2015, 12:11:05 PM

Quote from: / on January 21, 2015, 12:07:08 PM

Quote from: SexyPiranha on January 21, 2015, 12:04:21 PM
Quote from: / on January 21, 2015, 12:02:37 PM
Quote from: SexyPiranha on January 21, 2015, 11:59:58 AM
Quote from: / on January 21, 2015, 11:55:02 AM
the best part is that Milkomeda will be an elliptical galaxy

spiral galaxies are so overrated
will spark a long period of high frequency star formation
well as long as we don't get flung out of the galaxy completely or end up near the super-massive black hole we'll be fine

the chance of two stars colliding is exactly 0
eh earth will be long gone by then so no worry
well who knows, by then we may be advanced enough to maintain and protect the earth even after the sun's supernova.

I highly doubt "we" will be here, but our evolved predecessors might. Hopefully at that point we could just fuck off to another solar neighborhood (I think Sirus something's a light-year away?) when our old Sun collapses.