It never even occurred to me that Quagmire was invested in a “bad boy” persona. Of course he’s a secondary character and quite the stereotype to boot. Still a brilliant piece of comedy!

It’s like an ear worm: I’ll never be able to gaze upon this wonderful spectacle again without flashing on Quagmire. (Or Bob Hope or Richard Nixon, thanks alot Phil). It may seem a trivial distraction, but for many it wrecks a scientific appreciation as well as the aesthetic enjoyment one may derive from such gorgeous images.

Same with the “Horsehead” and other objects and phenomena with suggestive namesakes. This is readily apparent when one shows images of Barnard 33 or IC 434 (aka “Horsehead nebula”) to children who have never seen it before. When it is shown with north up or down, as is the conventional orientation for astrophotos, the dark nebula rarely elicits a ‘recognition’ of it’s namesake.

Unfortunately, most astrophotographers and magazine and book publishers worsen the situation by rotating the image to support the recognition instead of an appreciation of the object on its own merits. Kids look at IC 434 with a conventional north or south up orientation and are visibly stirred by its structure and beauty. They’ll keep on looking at it closely, discovering new details every moment. Turn the image about just so, however, and most kids (say, first or second-graders) have a tendency to respond, “It looks like a horse’s head!”…and promptly quit LOOKING at it because they figure they’ve ‘successfully identified it’ and think there’s nothing more to it. So much for getting kids interested in what astronomy is supposed to be about.

It might as well be a Rorschach test instead of an examination of how one pocket of dust-laden gas can respond to an interstellar breeze. But if it’s a “horsehead” or “Quagmire” or whatever, further examination is curtailed if not stopped dead.

That’s a real problem. And it is NOT trivial.

No, it isn’t even “fun”. It’s thoroughly STUPID. Knock it off.

In case you need reminding, MOST people still like to visit your site in order to obtain an uplifting and inspiring as well as easiily digestible scientific interpretation or insight. You have delivered just that for years. Unfortunately you’ve lately begun to fall off that previous legacy. And now you post a magnificent HST image of a section of the “Lagoon”, bursting with never-seen details that might inspire a decent scientific interpretation of what’s going on, and instead point out for the edification of your visitors, that there is Bob Hope, Richard Nixon or Quagmire in that one cloud shape.

Personally, methinks it is like a weasel.

Dark roast.

Just ground.

It’s full of stars.

As for what you can see in it that’s limited only by one’s imagination.

Like looking into clouds and campfires & seeing all the pictures one’s mind’s eye makes.

Anyhow, speaking of children the first thing I was reminded of was their ultrasounds.

Zero.

That’s not my assessment of your comment, that’s the character’s name.

Cool pic though, of course, as always

I see a dachshund wearing a bomber hat.