The Coma Cluster.

 A stunning new photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope of The Coma Cluster. For more information, check out the full story on Wired.

All text © 2009 Gary William Murning

Hubble Directly Observes Planet Orbiting Fomalhaut.

Estimated to be no more than three times Jupiter’s mass, the planet, called Fomalhaut b, orbits the bright southern star Fomalhaut, located 25 light-years away in the constellation Piscis Austrinus (the Southern Fish).

Fomalhaut has been a candidate for planet hunting ever since an excess of dust was discovered around the star in the early 1980s by the US- UK-Dutch Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS).

via ‘Hubble directly observes planet orbiting Fomalhaut’ by EurekAlert – RichardDawkins.net

A truly amazing discovery. 25 light years! Wow. For once I am uncharacteristically at a loss for words.

Quote of the Day.

“Every time you break an egg, you are doing observational cosmology.”

From Does Time Run Backward in Other Universes? by Sean M. Carroll.