'Hand of God' Spotted by NASA Space Telescope (Photo)

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'Hand of God' Spotted by NASA Space Telescope (Photo)

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By Tanya Lewis, Staff Writer | January 09, 2014 02:45pm ET

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Religion and astronomy may not overlap often, but a new

NASA X-ray image captures a celestial object that resembles
the "Hand of God."
The cosmic "hand of God" photo was produced when a star
exploded and ejected an enormous cloud of material, which
NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR,
glimpsed in high-energy X-rays, shown in blue in the photo.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory had imaged the green and
red parts previously, using lower-energy X-rays.
"NuSTAR's unique viewpoint, in seeing the highest-energy
X-rays, is showing us well-studied objects and regions in a
whole new light," NuSTAR telescope principal investigator
Fiona Harrison, of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, said in a statement.

The hand might look like an X-ray from the doctor's office, but it is actually a cloud of
material ejected from a star that exploded. NASA's NuSTAR spacecraft has imaged the
structure in high-energy X-rays for the first time, shown in blue. Lower-energy X-ray light previously

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detected by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is shown in green and red.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/McGill
View full size image

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The new image depicts a pulsar wind nebula, produced by the dense remnant of a star that exploded in a supernova. What's left behind is a pulsar,
called PSR B1509-58 (B1509 for short), which spins around 7 times per second blowing a wind of particles into material ejected during the star's
death throes.
As these particles interact with nearby magnetic fields, they produce an X-ray glow in the shape of a hand. (The pulsar is located near the bright white
spot in the image but cannot be seen itself, NASA officials said.)
Scientists aren't sure whether the ejected material actually assumes the shape of a hand, or whether its interaction with the pulsar's particles is just
making it appear that way.
"We don't know if the hand shape is an optical illusion," Hongjun An, of McGill University in Montreal, said in a statement. "With NuSTAR, the hand
looks more like a fist, which is giving us some clues."
The red cloud appearing at the fingertips is a separate structure called RCW 89. The pulsar's wind may be heating the cloud to produce the
low-energy X-ray glow, astronomers believe.
The X-ray energies seen by NuSTAR range from 7 to 25 kiloelectron volts, or keV, whereas the energies seen by Chandra range from 0.5 to 2 keV.
The Hand of God is an example of pareidolia, the psychological phenomenon of perceiving familiar shapes in random or vague images. Other
common forms of pareidolia include seeing animals or faces in clouds, or the man in the moon. Despite its supernatural appearance, the Hand of God
was produced by natural astrophysical phenomena.
Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.

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AUTHOR BIO

Tanya Lewis
Tanya joined the LiveScience staff in 2013. She received a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa
Cruz in 2012. Before that, she earned a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering from Brown University. She has interned previously at
Wired.com, Science News, Stanford Medical School, and the radio program Big Picture Science. To find out what her latest project is, you can follow
Tanya on Google+.
Tanya Lewis on

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Aki Labyrinthine Lnnroth Vantaa, Finland

My view on this: It's not an actual hand, but rather a "painting" of a hand, created by God
for beauty and fun. It's not possible to see the real shape from the angle we're looking.
It's also possible that the original image has been deteriorated by time. Same applies to
normal paintings and everything else in the universe. From this angle, it's possible to
see each nebula as work of art.
Like Reply Nov 2, 2015 10:12am Edited

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Julianne Rosza Vered Indianapolis, Indiana

God has only three fingers. Cool. (Sighs at the stupidity of humans who think god can be
seen in space dust)
Like Reply Nov 2, 2015 5:04am

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Cathey Thomas
So God is a lizard?
Like Reply

1 Nov 1, 2015 12:11pm

Kathy Collins Hodgenville, Kentucky

God is spirit and we who worship Him, must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth: God is
One God with three Manifestations of the same: Father {Creator} Son {that part of God
who gave Himself to Redeem back man-kind to Himself} and then {Holy Spirit} comforter
and protector, also Guide to those who love Him and follow's after Him: What ever Form
He wants to take on He can....we must have "Descernment" for even the very Elect will
be decieved, if possible: God always takes care of His own.....
Like Reply Oct 29, 2015 10:48pm

Gayle Cady Marshall, Minnesota

God and astronomy have always been connected. Religion and astrology are way
different things
Like Reply

1 Oct 15, 2015 11:26am

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