Comments on: Heart and Skull nebula

By: Joesph Island

Joesph Island — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 16:43:04 +0000

Interesting photograph – I didn’t realize you could filter out colors (wavelengths) that specifically, although it makes sense as you would need to to determine what elements are on other stars, planets, etc.

By: NASA telescope ferrets out planet-hunting targets : The Space Science

NASA telescope ferrets out planet-hunting targets : The Space Science — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:56:33 +0000

[...] Heart and Skull nebula | Bad Astronomy I’ve been an astronomer a long, long time. Even so, I still sometimes get surprised at how different the same object can look when imaged in different ways. I just saw an excellent example of this… W5, aka the Soul Nebula : [Click to ennebulanate.] Pretty, isn’t it? It was taken by César Cantú, an amateur astronomer in Mexico. It’s not a true color picture. Not even close! For one thing, he used … Read more on Discover [...]

By: Robert Carnegie

Robert Carnegie — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 12:54:11 +0000

British reprints of Marvel Comics used to occasionally have four-colour printing in the wrong colours. Spider-Man would be in green and the Incredible Hulk red, or something like that. Also, one time, Conan the Barbarian was captured by local tribesmen and tied hand and foot to a pole so they could carry him, like that bit in [Return of the Jedi], and this apparently confused the printer so the page was printed upside down. It hasn’t happened lately, they are probably using superior technology, but there is an actual “Red Hulk” character in stories now so I don’t rule it out.

My current science-fiction read, [Absolution Gap], has so far revealed a green star, which the reader is expected to know is Wrong. It is a star where something bad has been done to it, or near it. Rather annoyingly, it is being told out of sequence so that characters in the book know exactly what it is, they were there when it happened, but we don’t, yet.

By: Svlad Cjelli

Svlad Cjelli — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:01:09 +0000

Agreeing with DrFlimmer. Pareidoliacally is an ugly word, and the second “a” looks suspect. But, as Phil notes, yes it’s a word.

By: Michael White

Michael White — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 04:56:18 +0000

Very interesting picture… the universe is such a beautiful place! Thanks for posting this pic.

By: Ipecac

Ipecac — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 23:33:43 +0000

Phil, as a fellow Trek fan I’m embarrassed for you. It’s clearly a Melkotian.

http://www.70disco.com/images/melkoti.jpg

By: Adam Ginsburg

Adam Ginsburg — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:23:09 +0000

Oh no! It’s upside-down! http://casa.colorado.edu/~ginsbura/w5/w5mos_enhancedCO_crop.png

By: RwFlynn

RwFlynn — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:40:21 +0000

I’m so glad you posted this. I’m (obviously, lol why else would I be here?) interested in Astronomy, and in the middle of learning Spanish so his website is perfect for me.

By: Arik Rice

Arik Rice — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:22:01 +0000

Wow a nebula that looks like that must be a sign of something!

Or not, whatever…

By: Todd W.

Todd W. — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:13:07 +0000

It’s either Invader Zim or Cthulhu. Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fhtagn!

By: DrFlimmer

DrFlimmer — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:55:01 +0000

pareidoliacally

I am not a native speaker, but I would prefer pareidolious as the adjective and, hence, pereidoliously as the adverb.

By: Chris A.

Chris A. — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:45:45 +0000

@Thea (#5):
Umm, not according to the IUPAC (as of 1990) or the Oxford English Dictionary: “In chemistry… the -f- spelling is now the standard form in all related words in the field in both British and US contexts.”

By: Roland

Roland — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:43:03 +0000

I think it’s actually He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s Dark Mark.

It seems we’re doomed, yes.

By: Thea

Thea — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:19:02 +0000

You misspelled the word ‘sulphur’.

And that picture is amazing. It looks like a green glow-in-the-dark skull!

By: Ken B

Ken B — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:06:11 +0000

Creepier still… At the bottom of the blob to the right of the skull, is a hand holding one if its eyeballs. (I guess the other eyeball is floating away, towards the top-left corner of the image.)

By: Image | Skull Nebula Is Pure Metal. « OMEGA-LEVEL.NET -

Image | Skull Nebula Is Pure Metal. « OMEGA-LEVEL.NET - — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:46:02 +0000

[...] Enlarge. | Via. [...]

By: uudale

uudale — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:47:09 +0000

Pretty cool. Looks like we have a new form of art here: Using filters to create different views of the same astronomical object.

Astronomy as art!

By: Gary Ansorge

Gary Ansorge — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:19:34 +0000

Ah, pareidolia, from skulls to hearts to, well, anything. So much fun,,,

In the following link, the author talks about bared vs spiral galaxies and how they may be mere stages in an ongoing evolution that repeats itself.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/26618/?nlid=4325

Gary 7