Winehole23
11-04-2009, 10:51 AM
Astronomy Picture of the Day (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091101.html)
Discover the cosmos! (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html) Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2009 November 1
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0910/cosmiclatte_jhu.jpg (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0910/cosmiclatte_jhu.jpg)
The Average Color of the Universe
Credit: Karl Glazebrook (http://www.pha.jhu.edu/%7Ekgb/) & Ivan Baldry (http://www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/%7Eikb/) (JHU (http://www.pha.jhu.edu/)) Explanation: What color is the universe? More precisely, if the entire sky (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020310.html) were smeared out, what color would the final mix be? This whimsical question (http://space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/color_universe_020625-1.html) came up when trying to determine what stars are commonplace in nearby galaxies. The answer, depicted above (http://www.pha.jhu.edu/%7Ekgb/cosspec/), is a conditionally perceived shade (http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/color/gamma_correction/gamma.web.html) of beige (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beige). To determine this, astronomers computationally averaged the light emitted by one of the largest sample of galaxies (http://www.seds.org/messier/galaxy.html) yet analyzed: the 200,000 galaxies (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010904.html) of the 2dF survey (http://msowww.anu.edu.au/2dFGRS/). The resulting cosmic spectrum (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002ApJ...569..582B) has some emission in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum (http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/emspectrum.html), but a single perceived composite color. This color (http://www.pha.jhu.edu/%7Ekgb/cosspec/cie+cosspec.jpg) has become much less blue over the past 10 billion years, indicating that redder stars are becoming more prevalent. In a contest (http://www.pha.jhu.edu/%7Ekgb/cosspec/topten.htm) to better name the color, notable entries included skyvory, univeige, and the winner: cosmic latte (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_latte).
Discover the cosmos! (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html) Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2009 November 1
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0910/cosmiclatte_jhu.jpg (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0910/cosmiclatte_jhu.jpg)
The Average Color of the Universe
Credit: Karl Glazebrook (http://www.pha.jhu.edu/%7Ekgb/) & Ivan Baldry (http://www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/%7Eikb/) (JHU (http://www.pha.jhu.edu/)) Explanation: What color is the universe? More precisely, if the entire sky (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020310.html) were smeared out, what color would the final mix be? This whimsical question (http://space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/color_universe_020625-1.html) came up when trying to determine what stars are commonplace in nearby galaxies. The answer, depicted above (http://www.pha.jhu.edu/%7Ekgb/cosspec/), is a conditionally perceived shade (http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/color/gamma_correction/gamma.web.html) of beige (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beige). To determine this, astronomers computationally averaged the light emitted by one of the largest sample of galaxies (http://www.seds.org/messier/galaxy.html) yet analyzed: the 200,000 galaxies (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010904.html) of the 2dF survey (http://msowww.anu.edu.au/2dFGRS/). The resulting cosmic spectrum (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002ApJ...569..582B) has some emission in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum (http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/emspectrum.html), but a single perceived composite color. This color (http://www.pha.jhu.edu/%7Ekgb/cosspec/cie+cosspec.jpg) has become much less blue over the past 10 billion years, indicating that redder stars are becoming more prevalent. In a contest (http://www.pha.jhu.edu/%7Ekgb/cosspec/topten.htm) to better name the color, notable entries included skyvory, univeige, and the winner: cosmic latte (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_latte).