The image of the 'soap-bubble distribution' of galaxies in the universe is truly striking (but not unexpected).
However, I find the "from the inside-looking out" view of our own galaxy (the blue "sash" across the middle that wraps around the edges) to be profound evidence of where we as a planet -- and as beings -- fit into the whole scheme of things.
The full-size (1496K) image of today's photo (which can be reached by visiting today's APOD page and clicking on the reduced-size image shown above) is absolutely mind-blowing! In it, you can see familiar dust-lane features of our Milky Way galaxy -- especially where it "wraps around" the edges of the image. (...looking back toward galactic center...)
If you think about it and visualize how the image was made (from our viewpoint), you can tell that we are out on one edge of a discoidal mass of stars -- and that the image is as if the 'camera' 'panned' around a circle at right angles to the disc of our galaxy.
Notice that the blue band of our galaxy doesn't wrap completely around the edge of the image; (its form is that of a great "S" lying on its side). Just below center in the blue "sash" is the lowest-density point; I interpret that to be the direction of view out through the nearest edge of our galactic disc.
That's quite an exercise in spatial visualization, but the insights to be gained are well worth the effort... Its ramifications for fundamentalist Creationists (who insist that the Earth and Man are the center and raison d'etre of all Creation ) should strain their simplistic, geocentric, homocentric, and egocentric views of the universe...
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(Let's see how long it takes before someone sneeringly mentions "the E-word"...)
