Momentous pictures:

[pibbur]

Pictures say more than a thousand words? Of course they do - a thousand words occupy only between 5 and 10 K (ignoring overhead), equal to a 32 bit 57x57 pixel image. My avatar is bigger than that.

Anyhow, some images are more significant than others. Here are 2 images from the last 54 years (my lifetime) that are especially important to me (I don't count family pictures).

One is the "Earthrise", taken from Apollo 8 orbiting the moon. The other is earth as photographed from "Global Surveyor" on Mars (the upper bluish thingy). Also Jupiter is seen in the lower part of the picture. (I don't know if this is the original picture, or a modified one.). These two images fascinates me. Seen from a distance, they are practical examples of how small we are.

Over to you (It doesn't have to be photos)

 

[Krzychu]

Images of space are always important...

 

[magerette]

And eerily beautiful...(but I can only see one right now, Igvarheit.)

 

[pibbur]

And eerily beautiful...(but I can only see one right now, Igvarheit.)

I see two pictures. Strange.

 

[magerette]

Ah there it is--I had to switch to the light background to find it.

 

[Krzychu]

Since I am lazy at the moment, I will provide links to wikipedia pages that have the images I wanted to share:

1) Here is a picture of coronal loops on our lovely Sun.

2) This is a jet of matter coming straight out of an enormous black hole located somewhere in the galaxy M87.

I find such images fascinating, beautiful, and scary.

 

[Prime Junta]

20 years ago tomorrow...

 

[Rithrandil]

Amazing pictures - both the space ones and Tienanmen. I'm glad there are protests going on in Hong Kong about that, too.

 

[magerette]

Politically and currently speaking, I kind of like this one from yesterday:

Nancy Reagan & President Obama at signing of Bill to honor Ronald Reagan

 

[Rithrandil]

I'm going to submit this:

It's of Bobby Kennedy speaking just after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. If you haven't heard his speech, look it up. It's...amazing.

 

[xSamhainx]

Sarevok, moments before he hits the ground!

 

[Prime Junta]

Another one that etched itself in my mind, perhaps because I'm an amateur photographer who likes to do journalistic stuff, as well as all the rest of it:

The camera belonged to one of three journalists -- Taras Protsyuk, Jose Couso, and Tarek Ayoub -- killed by an American shell as they were observing the action from their window on the 15th floor of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, on April 8, 2003.

 

[JDR13]

The camera belonged to one of three journalists -- Taras Protsyuk, Jose Couso, and Tarek Ayoub -- killed by an American shell as they were observing the action from their window on the 15th floor of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, on April 8, 2003.

Just a note about that...

The decision to fire was made by the company's commander, Capt. Philip Wolford, after a gunner from one of his tanks scanned the hotel and saw someone observing with binoculars. At the time, the company was receiving mortar fire from several unknown points on the hotel's side of the river and had received intelligence that Iraqi spotters were using tall buildings to track American movements, military sources said.

Wolford said his troops "were hit by four or five points along the river." He also said he had received reports of teams of fighters with rocket-propelled grenades clustered at the foot of the hotel.

 

[JDR13]

Politically and currently speaking, I kind of like this one from yesterday:

Nancy Reagan & President Obama at signing of Bill to honor Ronald Reagan

Good thing there wasn't a New York cop in that room.

 

[Zaleukos]

Mine is also about 20 years old. Mostly symbolic, but a few days earlier you would have been shot approaching the thing:

 

[Arhu]

Seen from a distance, they are practical examples of how small we are.

I'll add three more:

1. Hubble Deep Field, "the most important image ever taken"
2. A Pale Blue Dot. What is it? Hint: We live there.
3. A speck of dirt - Space Shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Telescope passing in front of the sun.

 

[magerette]

Good thing there wasn't a New York cop in that room.

????
(I think Nancy looks pretty relaxed for someone being mugged, if that's what you meant. )

@Rith Nice choice.
@Zaluekos: Berlin wall, right? I never knew it had a Greek facade, though.

 

[JDR13]

????
(I think Nancy looks pretty relaxed for someone being mugged, if that's what you meant. ).

I was making a reference to this.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30996759/

It's been all over the news the last few days. Where have you been?

 

[magerette]

I was making a reference to this.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30996759/

It's been all over the news the last few days. Where have you been?

Yeah, heard the story but bear with me, I'm slow. What's the connection to the Nancy/Obama pic ?

 

[Prime Junta]

@Zaluekos: Berlin wall, right? I never knew it had a Greek facade, though.

That's the Brandenburger Tor behind it. It's to Berlin a bit what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris.