Other
Scientific paper
Oct 1998
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998aps..4cf..j101h&link_type=abstract
American Physical Society, Four Corners Section Fall Meeting, October 16-17, 1998 Brigham Young University Provo, Utah, abstract
Other
Scientific paper
Since the 1993 repair of the Hubble Space Telescope, the media has been awash in spectacular HST images of nebulae. Regions of star formation, remnants of supernova explosions, shells of material ejected from aging stars -- all of these and more have captured the public eye and have become symbols of HST's Phoenix-like rise from the ashes. But what is the science behind the pretty pictures? What do they tell us that we could not find out using ground based telescopes? It is easiest to answer these questions by analogy. A biologist does not need a microscope to see a person, but a microscope is necessary to understand the human body. Even though we are quite large, the processes that make us what we are occur on the scale of individual cells. Similarly, while nearby nebulae are often very large objects in the sky, the physical processes that shape them -- processes such as radiative transfer, postshock cooling, and the development of gasdynamic instabilities -- tend to occur on spatial scales that are very much smaller. It turns out that for a large class of processes in nearby objects, these spatial scales lie tantalizingly close but still beyond the limits of what can be seen from the ground. High spatial resolution HST images of nearby nebulae taken in the light of emission lines from a variety of ionic species have provided a first-ever look at the physical structure of these regions at the physically relevant scales. The resulting view has confirmed and clarified some of our preconceived notions, but has dramatically challenged others. In my talk I will discuss some of what we have learned, and take a look at the physics behind the pretty pictures.
No associations
LandOfFree
The Science Behind the Pictures: The Hubble Space Telescope and the Physics of Nebulae does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Science Behind the Pictures: The Hubble Space Telescope and the Physics of Nebulae, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Science Behind the Pictures: The Hubble Space Telescope and the Physics of Nebulae will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1720659