Starship Asterisk*

IC 1871: Inside the Soul Nebula

Explanation: This cosmic close-up looks deep inside the Soul Nebula. The dark and brooding dust clouds outlined by bright ridges of glowing gas are cataloged as IC 1871. About 25 light-years across, the telescopic field of view spans only a small part of the much larger Heart and Soul nebulae. At an estimated distance of 6,500 light-years the star-forming complex lies within the Perseus spiral arm of the Milky Way, seen in planet Earth's skies toward the constellation Cassiopeia. An example of triggered star formation, the dense star-forming clouds of IC 1871 are themselves sculpted by the intense winds and radiation of the region's massive young stars. This color image adopts a palette made popular in Hubble images of star-forming regions.

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All this dramatic stuff going on in our Galaxy and billions of other galaxies for billions of years ... and no one to appreciate any of it, until us. ( Or?)

This is a great region of the Soul Nebula! The whole Soul Nebula is catalogued as IC 1848 while this small part is catalogued separately as IC 1871. A RGB image by Adam Block can be seen here. IC 1871 can be seen in relation to IC 1848 in this widefield mosaic by Fabian Neyer.

henrystar wrote:All this dramatic stuff going on in our Galaxy and billions of other galaxies for billions of years ... and no one to appreciate any of it, until us. ( Or?)

But what do you mean when you say you "appreciate it" ?

So much universe – so few souls to appreciate it. Unless you count the billions of us on just one planet. If there are billions of life-sustaining planets in the billions of galaxies maybe the universe needs to get bigger?

MarkBour wrote:

henrystar wrote:All this dramatic stuff going on in our Galaxy and billions of other galaxies for billions of years ... and no one to appreciate any of it, until us. ( Or?)

But what do you mean when you say you "appreciate it" ?

1. recognize the full worth of.
2. understand (a situation) fully; recognize the full implications of.

I love the contemplative face in the Soul Nebula.
It's as if its mind blends into the soul of the nebula.

heehaw wrote:

MarkBour wrote:

henrystar wrote:All this dramatic stuff going on in our Galaxy and billions of other galaxies for billions of years ... and no one to appreciate any of it, until us. ( Or?)

But what do you mean when you say you "appreciate it" ?

1. recognize the full worth of.
2. understand (a situation) fully; recognize the full implications of.

Okay, a Google[tm] definition! But I wasn't looking for a Google[tm] definition of a word. I was probing to find out what henrystar meant by it.

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:I love the contemplative face in the Soul Nebula.

Click to view full size image

It's as if its mind blends into the soul of the nebula.

And, over at 3:00 the black ape dancing on the elephants back

Rare image

The center area of this image has always reminded me of a whirling dervish dancing.

Diana

DianaA wrote:The center area of this image has always reminded me of a whirling dervish dancing.

Diana

I was just thinking about that particular resemblance