Images (starting with upper-left):  Infrared readings of light from the First Stars; the Bubble Nebula;  a solar flare on our new sun; sunlight on the floor in Edward Hopper's "Summer Interior," putting sunlight in perspective.

Astronomy Picture of the Day is one of my favorite websites. Every brings a new amazing photograph or image of the seemingly limitless marvels of our universe.

When I think of the mysteries of the heavens, of light and time and space, my mind invariably drifts to the embodiment of all mystery hear on Earth. 

(explanations of the photos and some great links on the flip-fl0p) 

What created this huge space bubble? Blown by the wind from a star, this tantalizing, ghostly apparition is cataloged as NGC 7635, but known simply as The Bubble Nebula. Astronomer Eric Mouquet's striking view utilizes a long exposure with hydrogen alpha light to reveal the intricate details of this cosmic bubble and its environment. Although it looks delicate, the 10 light-year diameter bubble offers evidence of violent processes at work. Seen here above and right of the Bubble's center is a bright hot star embedded in reflecting dust.

Eight years ago results were first presented indicating that most of the energy in our universe is not in stars or galaxies but is tied to space itself. In the language of cosmologists, a large cosmological constant is directly implied by new distant supernovae observations. Suggestions of a cosmological constant (lambda) are not new -- they have existed since the advent of modern relativistic cosmology.

What were the first stars like? No one is yet sure. Our Sun is not a first-generation star. It is not even second generation. The first stars to appear in the universe likely came and went about 13 billion years ago. However, deep observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope in infrared light have detected a diffuse glow, possibly from first generation stars hundreds of times more massive than our Sun. The above image shows infrared background light with bright patches that might have originated from clusters of these first objects.

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