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Bad Astronomy
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Happy Hubble Holidays!

Hubble Holiday cards are back!

This is a really good idea: using gorgeous Hubble images to make cards for the season. The site has instructions on how to print them, and of course links to the images as well.

I have to say, I think my favorite is this one:

The picture is from the Galactic center in Sagittarius, where stars are plentiful. I recognized it immediately (I’m a dork), but the idea of using it for ornaments was pretty clever and very funny.

The most ironic one is this one:

I hate to break it to my friends at Hubble, but Mars is the god of war. Maybe a hawk would have been a better choice for the silhouette.

Or maybe it’s all part of the subtle War on Christmas: all the cards say "holiday" and "season", and not Christmas. Maybe they should have a Hubble picture of the Star of Bethlehem?

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December 10th, 2007 9:16 AM by Phil Plait in Astronomy, Cool stuff, NASA, Pretty pictures | 10 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

10 Responses to “Happy Hubble Holidays!”

  1. 1.   uknesvuinng Says:
    December 10th, 2007 at 9:48 am

    That last picture very obviously proves there is no space and the sky is a solid dome above us. You can’t get that size of silhouette on Mars if it’s really far away![/sarcasm]

  2. 2.   Hanson Gaugler Says:
    December 10th, 2007 at 9:53 am

    Maybe it is War and Peace.

  3. 3.   PK Says:
    December 10th, 2007 at 10:24 am

    Rather than a “war on Christmas” (worth fighting, I’d say!), the cards probably say holiday/season because the state is not allowed to endorse religion.

  4. 4.   Michael Lonergan Says:
    December 10th, 2007 at 10:32 am

    I really don’t have a problem with “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Pleasant Solstice Greetings”, or whatever people want to say. I just wish people would get over their collective hang-ups and enjoy the season, however they choose to celebrate it, religious or secular.

  5. 5.   Ken_g6 Says:
    December 10th, 2007 at 10:33 am

    That’s not the worst of it. Did you see the one labeled hc002? Way to keep that “Mars as big as the full Moon” rumor going!

  6. 6.   Gnat Says:
    December 10th, 2007 at 11:37 am

    I wish I’d known about this before spending all day Sunday writing out my Christmas cards!

    Oh, well, I’ll have to remember it for next year! :)

  7. 7.   Ray M Says:
    December 11th, 2007 at 5:22 pm

    How charming… the dove took a dump on Mars!

  8. 8.   Moose Says:
    December 11th, 2007 at 5:23 pm

    Actually, having the dove superimposed on Mars is quite apt. Doves, apparently, are pretty cranky, bitey critters when they’re threatened.

  9. 9.   MandyDax Says:
    December 12th, 2007 at 6:16 pm

    Which Star of Bethlehem? The near conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 7BC or the near conjunction of Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter in 2BC?

  10. 10.   Elisabeth Says:
    December 4th, 2009 at 5:34 pm

    In error, I ordered one item two times…it was a gift certificate and the recipient received both and I only wanted to give him one. Amazon’s helpers in the Phillipines…Joy P and Louise C were most helpful..and I ended up with one of the ceertificates being put in my account. I will be very happy to buy anything from Amazon…you are amazing!

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