It’s been some time since one of these has gone up. Usually, we take a small section from a photo and enlarge it. Sometimes, we’ve taken a bird’s eye view of a large object. For this one, however, what you see is what you get.
What are we looking at here?
UPDATE: So far, many close answes have been submitted, but only Denita TwoDragons has gotten it correct.
Candle?!
1. Jellyfish?
2. Blue light on top of police car?
3. Tunnel exit in Central Park?
4. High speed film of a water droplet hitting water and rebounding?
I give up!
Looks like the blue cone of a flame (candle?) with the yellows/oranges removed.
I think it’s a lit candle.
A candle wick and a blue flame?
The flame of a candle in zero gravity, on the ISS. The lack of gravity affects convection, so instead of the candle flame leaping up into a lovely orange-red spire, it huddles pathetically against the wick instead.
This looks like a wick of a burning candle.
post updated- while we have a bunch of somewhat close answers submitted, only 1 person so far has gotten this correct (Denita TwoDragons)
I believe it’s a very very low burning candle. The dark area in the middle is the wick, while the blue is the flame.
Looks like a match that burning out. I’d say candle, but candle’s don’t burn blue!
perhaps a candle wick with the flame about to burn out
looks to me to be a blue LED
Close up of a blue LED light?
Is it an LED?
A blue flame
it looks like a picture under a bridge, with maybe something in the water….or part of a light bulb…kind of hard to tell….
My friend Tom did his PhD research on a marine flatworm that has photosynthetic properties, and he tested their affinity for different wavelengths of light. That’s what this looks like. Uncannily so.
It also looks like a very hot flame with a wick in the middle of it.
looks like a match that is just about to go out…
Several interesting ideas for sure. Those of you who said flame/wick are close- but why is there no orange? What is it shaped like that?
It could be the pilot light of a gas range (although I did think jellyfish at first).
A welder’s torch?
Frog’s eye
police blue light, while turning off
methane cooker/stove flame.
Hmmm maybe a pilot light?
The ignition of a flame?
a PhD’s explanation, from about.com:http://chemistry.about.com/od/.....ravity.htm
Question: Can a Candle Burn in Zero Gravity?
Answer: Yes, can candle can burn in zero gravity. However, the flame is quite a bit different. Fire behaves differently in space and microgravity than on Earth.
A microgravity flame forms a sphere surrounding the wick. Diffusion feeds the flame with oxygen and allows carbon dioxide to move away from the point of combustion, so the rate of burning is slowed. The flame of a candle burned in microgravity is an almost invisible blue color (video cameras on Mir could not detect the blue color). Experiments on Skylab and Mir indicate the temperature of the flame is too low for the yellow color seen on Earth.
Smoke and soot production is different for candles and other forms of fire in space or zero gravity compared to candles on earth. Unless air flow is available, the slower gas exchange from diffusion can produce a soot-free flame. However, when burning stops at the tip of the flame, soot production begins. Soot and smoke production depends on the fuel flow rate.
It isn’t true that candles burn for a shorter length of time in space. Dr. Shannon Lucid (Mir), found that candles that burn for 10 minutes or less on Earth produced a flame for up to 45 minutes. When the flame is extinguished, a white ball surrounding the candle tip remains, which may be a fog of flammable wax vapor.
Way cool! Got more of this kind of stuff?
the temperature is too low for the yellow color? i was under the impression that the blue part of a flame is the hottest, and yellow or red is the coolest temperature of a flame?
Glad you liked Obiwan; thanks for the feedback
What we see is a flame in “zero gravity”.
In answer to Scott’s point-the color of the flame depends on several factors, including soot content. In general, as the flame gets hotter, its color changes from red to orange to yellow to white…
a really hot candle(blue is the hottest color).
It’s a burning candle. candle wick.
It is a picture of a burning candle without gravity.
It’s a candle in zero gravity