Figure 1 – Newly release photomontage of the Andromeda Galaxy, Messsier 31, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, from NASA and the ESA.

Earlier this month, NASA released a mind blowing photomontage from the Hubble Space Telescope of the Andromeda Galaxy – a 4.3 Gb file..  This is the largest image ever assembled by the Hubble Space Telescope.  At 2.5 million light years away, Andromeda is our nearest galactic neighbor.  The image resolves something like 100,000 stars.  Truly this is like photographing a beach and resolving the individual grains of sand.  The image was assembled from 7,398 exposures taken over 411 individual pointings of the telescope.

To understand the enormity of the project and of the galaxy it is best to view it as a reconstructed flyby.  But I have included a still of the image as Figure 1.  I was amazed as I watched the video.  The individual stars becoming denser and denser.  And yet, Andromeda is a relatively small object in the sky.

Yesterday I was discussing with a colleague about how depressing it is that everything that you do on a computer, create a file or erase a file, contributes to the unstoppable increase in the entropy of the universe, that slow decline to absolute zero and nothingness.  This image puts it in perspective.  Look at that image of Andromeda and imagine all the galaxies out there including our own.  What are we?

I apologize for returning to the subject of New Year’s ice baths in frozen rivers.  But the Greek Orthodox calendar affords us the opportunity to visit all these themes again, and the look on the lady’s face in this photograph by  Maxim Shipenkov of the EPA,  showing people queuing up for the plunge in celebration of the Epiphany Orthodox holiday in Moscow, Russia,is just to wonderful to ignore. The boy behind her is, of course nonplussed by the icy dip – ah the benefits of youth! The bottom line, no matter what a vigorous race, is that people really need to stop all this ice diving – really not so good for the heart!

When I was growing up in New York City, one of the great charms was the beauty of the city at night.  Where I grew up there was a spectacular view of the Empire State Building, which is gorgeously lit in various colors to celebrate specific holidays.  I posted a while back some images that I took of the City at night in the rain. But something that was really technically unthinkable back then was night time aerial photography, by which I mean from a moving plane or helicopter.  Films were just plain to slow to produce anything but a streaky blur.

Today I came across some truly spectacular aerial images of NYC taken from a helicopter by photographer Vincent Laforet. So here is a great example of better living through technology: high speed lenses, high ISO digital camera settings, and gyroscopic mounts.  Did I mention the part about hanging by a harness out of an open helicopter window at 7500 feet. And what I truly love is the mixture of street lights (sodium vapor lamps casting an intense yellow light) and other lights creating wonderful iridescent, pastel blues and purples.  These are truly magical photographs. And yes, I even found an image with a view of the apartment that I grew up in.  I like the series that I linked above because I think these images look best against a black background – a personal preference.  But if you want to see more of Laforet’s images, I recommend a visit to his website, which has the added advantage that you can see his other work as well.  Bravo!

If you are looking for the ultimate apocalyptic image be sure to check out this week’s image by Shah Marai/AFP showing Afghan children selling water and searching for customers at the Kart-e-Sakhi cemetery in Kabul, Afghanistan.  This image operates beautifully and creepily at so many different levels, as to be genius.  There is the dusty lifelessness of the graves, the children not just as water bearers in a literal sense but in a mythically sense as well – libation bearers to offer quench the unquenchable thirst of the dead.  Yikes! And if that isn’t enough, look at what the boy in the foreground is wearing.  Is that Santa Claus on his sweatshirt?

Yesterday I spoke about braving the cold of January.  I guess that this segues nicely into the theme of those who take it all in stride,  those who realish the cold, those who embrace January’s icy grip with a New Year’s Day plunge into a lake, river, or ocean.  The Northern Hemisphere abounds with such intrepid lunatics, and NBC News has assembled a wonderful series of this years plungers.

I love all of these images.  But special mention has to go to Charles Mcquillan of Getty Images from his photograph of superwoman Angela McClements in mid dive into the harbor of Carnlough, Northern Ireland. This is an annual event in support of Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus charities.