Break for Glory: NASA Picture of the Day

February 20, 2012

Today's Vibhooti break comes courtesy of of NASA's picture of the day website. The study of astronomy is fascinating since that is the only subject that now deals with time scales that approach what the Puranas speak about. For instance, the universe is said to be just over 13 billion years old, while Hindu cosmology projects that a universe lasts about 5.3 billion years (no other culture comes close). Again, astronomy makes a paradox of a word like "today". Some of the galaxies, like NGC2237 shown in the picture is 50 light years away i.e. the picture is possibly a representation of how that galaxy looked 50 years ago since that is how long it took light from that galaxy to reach us. So, we can't quite say this is how the galaxy looks "today".

What I love is how the glory of science is revealed in this picture:

Technology today allows these pictures to be assembled and distributed through the web
There are scientists who love their science and are eager to share their knowledge with whoever has the time and inclination to learn

If you want more such pics and science, bookmark the link http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

More Vibhooti break links here

Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

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