Starship Asterisk*

Looks like a van Gogh.

I looks like it's extending out from a face on the right side of the shot. A badly deformed Pinocchio nose?

Hah! It's either the above or you've got cataracts. Just had my eyes done.

It looks like a painting. Well done Mr. Rizzo.

User loser wrote:Like the fist of an angry god!

It does look a bit like a clenched fist, doesn't it. Although, it seems to have it's thumb tucked inside it's fingers against the palm which is the road to dislocation.

That must have been some good ****. I'm seeing human forms all over that shot, reminiscent of a game of king of the mountain in Hades. I'd better get some rest.

Yes, it is superb. Is NGC 7317 an elliptical galaxy or a severely diminished spiral? Most of these groups seem to involve spirals...or this could be an example of my severely diminished memory.

To me this looks like an actual picture than most formations I've seen with descriptive names. And yes, an owl for sure.

What a gorgeous photo! The weather cooperated perfectly.

Stay Puft

I can see your house from here.

I was at an Air Base in Glasgow back in the 60's. On the flight line there was constant snow about 6 inches deep blowing along the ground. Snow was piled up on the north side of buildings, but open ground was clear. It seemed like there were huge fans in Canada sending it across the border. Now this...

LJK wrote:Is the small black dot in the southern hemisphere center left a shadow of one of Saturn's moons cast by the Sun?
LK

"I'm being followed by a moon shadow..."
I was going to ask the same question and didn't want to waste that quote.

The bulges are about 180 degrees apart. Could they correspond to the star's equator?

Very cool shot. What are the little double spots that look like quotation marks. Some kind of artifacting or are background stars being doubled?

Below and to the left of center are three foreground stars in a row. They're pointing at a tube shaped something off to the right (it shows up better on the zoom-able Hubblesite page). I would guess it would appear bigger if it were in earth orbit...a glitch perhaps? One of those proplyds mentioned ...

Tidal locking could account for a thicker crust on the farside? That must be an interesting mechanic.

Most of the background stars look ovate and pointed either toward or away from the nebula. If they all pointed in the same direction, I'd just write it off to a short time lapse. Is this some other function of the camera work?

LBN 777 looks like a barn owl in that shot.

http://greeneart.com/barn_owl.html

"But I see your true colors
shining through"

Who would have thought I'd be quoting Cindy Lauper on the APOD forum. A very nice picture. Thank you.

Now that is a cool photo. Cool enough to be my desktop? Why yes, I believe it is.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/ ... clipse.jpg

If this is a problem with the copyright holder, kindly let me know.

The "Vermeer" is in the window of a house below the church, but what's that thing in the lower left?

I don't see anything useful in that image. Can anyone give a better explanation?

The color and texture is reminiscent of Starry Night. I guess van Gogh knew what he was doing.

A little over halfway up the shot on the right side, at the edge of the dust cloud, is a foreground star. Just below and to the right of it is a smallish, irregular group of orange dots. Does anyone know what they might be?