Comments on: Swimming up the Milky Way

By: tracer

tracer — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:10:51 +0000

This must be one of the Space Whales the U.S.S. Voyager encountered in the Delta Quadrant.

Just remember to roll over and turn blue if you see one!

By: Neil Haggath

Neil Haggath — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:09:50 +0000

#18 MTU:
The actual name of the guy who named Sualocin and Rotanev was Niccolo Cacciatore. “Cacciatore” is Italian for “hunter”, and the Latin equivalent is “venator” – hence his Latinised name, Nicolaus Venator. The names were later reproduced in other catalogues, whose authors didn’t cotton onto his exercise in modesty, and by the time someone realised their origin, we were stuck with them.

By: Neil Haggath

Neil Haggath — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:04:40 +0000

#17 Damon the Troll:
Here’s an idea; why don’t you go and make a pain in the posterior of yourself somewhere else?

By: Simon

Simon — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 07:57:18 +0000

Very like a whale. Hamlet. Act iii. Sc. 2

By: mike burkhart

mike burkhart — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 02:06:25 +0000

Maybe this is a seen from the new movie ”Flipper in space” I supose this will be named the Dlophin nebula.

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 23:35:05 +0000

Dolphin – or shark or Ichthyosaur? :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthyosaur

Ain’t convergent evolution grand?

b) Too bad this is in the constellation of Scutum the shield; it should really be in Delphinus.

Well, it could be the design (emblem) on the sheild I suppose?

Delphinus is a great little constellation :

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/del-t.html

one which really does look like it’s meant to & there’s a good story to its brightest stars names :

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/sualocin.html

Sualocin (Alpha Delphini) and Rotanev (Beta Delphini) as well for those who don’t already know.

By: Damon

Damon — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 22:36:43 +0000

Mmm, too bad most of the anomalies cited in satellite photos of the moon and mars aren’t of faces but of symmetrical shapes like pyramids and buildings. Nice try, Phil.

By: OtherRob

OtherRob — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:17:25 +0000

As soon as the picture came up I thought, “it’s a whale”.

By: Xulxanrov

Xulxanrov — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:24:46 +0000

Not to be pedantic, but the Kelvin on the scale here is referring to either antenna temperature or brightness temperature, which is a measure of the intensity (brightness) of the radio waves from the cloud, not the literal physical temperature of the cloud. Nonetheless, such clouds are often very cold.

By: Ken B

Ken B — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:19:09 +0000

Actually, it’s a shark, as noted by the caption within the image itself:

http://www.hvcomputer.com/temp/astronjive_dolphin_shark.jpg

By: alfaniner

alfaniner — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:59:22 +0000

You’re welcome, for all the fish.

By: ceramicfundamentalist

ceramicfundamentalist — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:52:13 +0000

this is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think? just demonstrates that you can see literally anything in randomness, as long as you look at randomness selectively enough (what would this look like at other wavelengths?), and aren’t too picky about the image being realistic.

By: TMB

TMB — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:08:42 +0000

Actually, it’s HI (neutral hydrogen), not molecular gas.

By: BigLee

BigLee — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:13:51 +0000

I see the Dolphin but I also see a Swordfish chasing a small shark (heading the the opposite direction to the Dolphin).

By: Grand Lunar

Grand Lunar — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:13:49 +0000

I see a shark.
This is what REALLY happened to Megalodon!

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:52:15 +0000

That is clearly a star whale (http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Whale) not a dolphin.

By: mike

mike — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:26:20 +0000

On a related note, what do you make of this?

http://www.businessinsider.com/youtuber-discovers-alien-space-station-on-mars-truth-vs-fiction-2011-6

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:06:46 +0000

Great minds think alike

By: Nigel Depledge

Nigel Depledge — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:52:45 +0000

That’s no dolphin : it’s a Nessie!

By: Smith

Smith — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:37:05 +0000

So long and thanks for all the fish!

(EDIT: Lol beat me to it)

By: AK

AK — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:35:19 +0000

So long, and thanks for all the fish?

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:27:24 +0000

So long and thanks for all the fish!

By: Adams was right

Adams was right — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:09:19 +0000

Douglas Adams was right – and now the dolphins have left the earth…