Posted on 12/17/2011 6:58:14 AM PST by JoeProBono
Just in time for the holidays, the folks at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, give us a glimpse of a heavenly angel—not literally one of the seraphim, of course, but an astronomical delight nonetheless.
The two-lobed star-forming region, dubbed Sharpless 2-106, is located in an isolated part of our Milky Way galaxy nearly 2000 light-years from Earth. The bluish "wings" are lobes of super-hot gas illuminated by a monster star—dozens of times the mass of our sun—forming in the center of the still-expanding nebula.
A dark ring of dust and gas circling the star (dark bands, center), material that may one day coalesce into a planetary system, acts like a belt, cinching the nebula into an hourglass shape.
I definitely see the angel... she even has two little pony tails on top of her head. Beautiful!
Look at the smile on that little angel’s face!!! Adorable! So precious!
That is so cute~ Love the pictures
That is so cute~ Love the pictures
Excuse_My_Bellicosity:
“I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing. Those skunks make the Moonies and Hari Krishnas look downright respectable.”
libstripper:
“I have many good friends who are Jewish. However, until 9/11, I could never really empathize entirely with the feeling of total revulsion they must have seeing people in Nazi uniforms. I certainly never has such feelings towards Russians, for example, even though their government wanted to destroy our system of life and replace it with communism. Then came 9/11 and the joyous celebration of this hideous, utterly wanton atrocity, by just about all the world’s influential Mudslimes and all the dissembling and excuse making by every influential Mudslime group in this country. Now, when I see any of them in public wearing their traditional garb I fell the same, entirely rational, psycho-physical revulsion toward them my Jewish friends must feel towards individuals in Nazi uniforms. Strange thing, when you know somebody probably wants to murder you in the most horrible ways imaginable just because you’re a loyal American, it tends to affect you a bit.”
Both excellent posts.
I feel exactly the same way. When I see a Muslim, particularly a woman in Islamic garb, I feel nothing but contempt inside. Of course, I won’t openly insult them (the time has yet to come for that, but someday such behavior may come within The West). But I will intentionally use mild facial expressions to indicate my disdain for them, and for what they represent to me.
I realize that one of the seeming core principles of conservatism has been to treat all the same. However, I can state that I no longer harbor “egalitarian fantasies”. We cannot, should not, MUST NOT “treat equally” those who [in their very deepest beliefs] harbor the desire to kill us or make us dhimmis.
To cling to such notions is suicide. Even Mr. Jefferson was wrong about that...
sorry, above reply got posted to wrong thread...
Now there’s a REAL angel!
Thanks momtothree for the ping, and thanks JPB for the topic.
Here’s an ‘extra, extra’ ping to the APoD list!
Which thread was that? It sounds interesting.
Excellent 1000-word essays throughout, Joe. Nice to see you, too. If you pinged me ten times a day, it wouldn’t be enough, sweetie.
“Sharpless”? Wow! What a coincidence! As I am reading this, i am listening to “Madame Butterfly” which HAS a Character named “Sharpless”.
The 3 Magi were astronomers who followed the stars, as could be seen with the naked eye. One can only imagine how they would have reacted to such images, had the Hubble telescope been in place in their time.
The universe around us (and this image is from our neighborhood!) is filled with such extraordinary phenomena to make us quake in our shoes and drop to our knees, at the thought of its Creator.
CARE TO DANCE?
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