This is absolutely spectacular.

Anybody that can look at this and believe that we are alone is not thinking.

The cluster is called Messier 9 and is a spherical cloud about 25,000 light-years from Earth. The Hubble Space Telescope is powerful enough to make out more than 250,000 individual stars in Messier 9 shown in a new picture released today (03/16/2012). The bluer points indicate hotter stars, while the redder stars are cooler.

WARNING: File size is 10MB.This new photo (Click HERE) is the most high-resolution image ever taken of Messier 9 with many details of the stars visible. The whole image spans an area no bigger than the size of the head of a pin held at arm's length.

Full size photo (36MB) in TIF format is located HERE.

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Tom, all I can say here is that, "This is really something different".
All this and only occupying an area of sky equivalent to that
of a pinhead held at arms length. I've always been a proponent of the belief
that we are alone in this universe....Hmm! perhaps I need a rethink?

To think that today someone out their in that mass of starts, etc,
could be looking back at our clump now and saying, "Anybody that can
look at this and believe that we are alone is not thinking"...now they
would be right in stating this.

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The Kite Fliers

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Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

100 gillion-trillion-billion...+ or - 10%

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The Kite Fliers

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Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

Hubble continues to amaze me. I will be sad when it's decommissioned.

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Fortymile Photo

Hubble continues to amaze me. I will be sad when it's decommissioned.

Don't worry, there will be something new and improved to replace it.

Hubble continues to amaze me. I will be sad when it's decommissioned.

Originally the plan was to bring Hubble home in a Space Shuttle after it is decommissioned to be displayed in a museum, because of the groundbreaking science. But after the Columbia disaster it was deemed not worth the risk. However, Hubble outlived the Space Shuttle anyway.

Hopefully you will not miss Hubble too much when the James Webb Space Telescope is operational.

I know there are replacements in the works that will most likely boggle the mind but I look at Hubble with the same fondness as my first motorcycle or auto. All took me on journeys that hold a special place.

I would have liked to see Hubble in the Air and Space Museum.

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Fortymile Photo

There is no need to bring down Hubble as long as it can give results. Many NASA satellites and probes have outlived their planned time and are still giving science. Long live Hubble!
Tullio

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There is no need to bring down Hubble as long as it can give results. Many NASA satellites and probes have outlived their planned time and are still giving science. Long live Hubble!
Tullio

They will not shut Hubble down as long as there is still good science to be had, it's such a large investment and they want their moneys worth. But Hubble hasn't got many years life left. The goal for the final servicing mission was to extend the life to 2014. It might hang on for a few more years, perhaps until 2018 when the James Webb is scheduled to launch. The current plan is to deorbit Hubble using a robotic mission somewhere around 2025, before the orbit has degraded enough for an uncontrolled reentry.

Although, it is a bit unfair to make everything a question about Hubble and James Webb. There's several space telescopes, for example the Herschel Space Observatory. And modern ground based telescopes using adaptive optics can now take better pictures in visible light than the Hubble, for less cost.

But Hubble is the most iconic telescope, the superstar of telescopes. No doubt about it.