Hum Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Religion and astronomy may not overlap often, but a new NASA X-ray image captures a celestial object that resembles the "Hand of God." The cosmic "hand of God" photo was produced when a star exploded and ejected an enormous cloud of material, which NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, glimpsed in high-energy X-rays, shown in blue in the photo. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory had imaged the green and red parts previously, using lower-energy X-rays."NuSTAR's unique viewpoint, in seeing the highest-energy X-rays, is showing us well-studied objects and regions in a whole new light," NuSTAR telescope principal investigator Fiona Harrison, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said in a statement.The new image depicts a pulsar wind nebula, produced by the dense remnant of a star that exploded in a supernova. What's left behind is a pulsar, called PSR B1509-58 (B1509 for short), which spins around 7 times per second blowing a wind of particles into material ejected during the star's death throes.more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osiris Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 High 5's to you to buddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 That god shouldn't be playing with hot novas -- looks like he lost a couple of fingers. :p Albert, WAQT and KingCracker 3 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Miller Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 God doesn't play dice with the universe. djdanster 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kriz Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Lets be realistic, its just gas and dust :) Tigurinn, Nashy and ACTIONpack 3 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Semtex Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Looks like facepalm :woot: WAQT 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloatingFatMan Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Doesn't look like a hand at all... Nashy 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Doesn't look like a hand at all...Really? If you outline the dust cloud, assuming each ejecta trail is a "finger," you get this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noir Angel Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Why do people buy into this stupidity? it's a nebula, nothing more. Nashy 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giantpotato Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Why do people buy into this stupidity? it's a nebula, nothing more. Whoah, whoah, calm down now. Next thing you'll be telling me is the Big Dipper isn't an actual ladle in the sky. Nashy, Raa, benthebear and 6 others 9 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art3x Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Whoah, whoah, calm down now. Next thing you'll be telling me is the Big Dipper isn't an actual ladle in the sky. Lol, a bear you mean ;p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I guess as a kid he never looked at clouds and saw ships, cars, planes etc. Praetor and +E.Worm Jimmy 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lingwo Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 As bigfoot as my witness. That's gods hand. +E.Worm Jimmy, Psyco359 and xendrome 3 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rippleman Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 doesn't look like a hand to me either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thommcg Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 HBO Marketing department... obviously GilgaMesh 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹ Posted January 11, 2014 Subscriber¹ Share Posted January 11, 2014 I clearly see a hand, a creepy mangled hand, but a hand ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkMan Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Really? If you outline the dust cloud, assuming each ejecta trail is a "finger," you get this Personally I see it the other way, as a left hand held out, with the "finger" sticking out to the right being the thumb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jamesyfx Subscriber² Posted January 11, 2014 Subscriber² Share Posted January 11, 2014 As mentioned above.. I don't think anyone is saying it's a literal hand of god. It's just a fitting name because of it's shape. Probably better than 'roughly human hand shaped exploding star matter no. 1' :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackdoom Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Hardly a hand, in my eyes, but beautiful nonetheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyboard Cowboy Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 That's creepy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted January 11, 2014 Subscriber² Share Posted January 11, 2014 I like the naming, it'll be as funny as when the 'god particle' was named ShadowMajestic 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkMan Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I like the naming, it'll be as funny as when the 'god particle' was named ignorant religious nuts who's never opened a single science book since first grade are a good source for funny though :) Tigurinn 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compl3x Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 ignorant religious nuts who's never opened a single science book since first grade are a good source for funny though :) Science is for commies, homos, and atheists. EXCEPT WHEN THEY NAME SOMETHING WITH THE WORD GOD IN IT! :rofl: As for the article, did NASA designate this the "Hand of God" or FoxNews' editorial department. Also worth noting that the article ends with: The Hand of God is an example of pareidolia, the psychological phenomenon of perceiving familiar shapes in random or vague images. Other common forms of pareidolia include seeing animals or faces in clouds, or the man in the moon. Despite its supernatural appearance, the Hand of God was produced by natural astrophysical phenomena. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streetw0lf Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 You guys will argue about anything for argument's sake <lol> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Captain Kirk says it is a hand ... 123456789A and neo1911 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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