Seahorse of the Large Magellanic Cloud (2009 March 23)

[Andy Wade]

A fantastic picture. Nice one APOD.
I see two seahorses though... The second one is to the left of the main one, a little fainter and looking slightly to the right and away from us into the nebula. Almost as if they are parents watching their young hidden inside the nebula.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090323.html

[Indigo_Sunrise]

A fantastic picture. Nice one APOD.

I'll second that!

[neufer]

I see two seahorses though...
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090323.html
The second one is to the left of the main one, a little fainter and looking slightly to the right and away from us into the nebula.
Almost as if they are parents watching their young hidden inside the nebula.

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<<The hippocampus is a brain structure located inside the medial temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex, and therefore is part of the telencephalon (forebrain). It belongs to the limbic system and plays major roles in short term memory and spatial navigation. Humans and other mammals have two hippocampi, one in each side of the brain. In rodents, where it has been studied most extensively, the hippocampus is shaped something like a banana. In humans it has a curved and convoluted shape that reminded early anatomists of a seahorse. The name, in fact, derives from the Greek word for seahorse (Greek: ιππος, hippos = horse, καμπος, kampos = sea monster).


<<The National Society for Epilepsy has a seahorse for its mascot named Caesar (after the Roman dictator, Julius Caesar, who was believed to have had epilepsy). The seahorse mascot was chosen because the hippocampus, a part of the brain that is vulnerable to damage from epileptic seizures, resembles a seahorse in shape. In Alzheimer's disease the hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain to suffer damage; memory problems and disorientation appear among the first symptoms. Damage to the hippocampus can also result from oxygen starvation (anoxia), encephalitis, or medial temporal lobe epilepsy. People with extensive hippocampal damage may experience amnesia, that is, inability to form or retain new memories.>>

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Seahorses are a genus (Hippocampus) of fish belonging to the family Syngnathidae, which also includes pipefish and leafy sea dragons. The hippocamp or hippocampus (plural: hippocampi; Greek: ἵπποκαμπος, from ἵππος, "horse" and κάμπος , "monster"), often called a sea-horse in English, is a mythological creature shared by Phoenician and Greek mythology, though the name by which it is recognized is purely Greek; it became part of Etruscan mythology. It has typically been depicted as a horse in its forepart with a coiling, scaly, fishlike hindquarter. In Hellenistic and Roman imagery Poseidon (or Roman Neptune) often drives a sea-chariot drawn by hippocamps. Thus hippocamps sport with this god in both ancient depictions and much more modern ones, such as in the waters of the eighteenth-century Trevi Fountain in Rome. The hippocamp was considered an appropriate decoration for mosaics in Roman thermae or public baths, as at Aquae Sulis modern day Bath in Britannia.

[aristarchusinexile]

Thanks for the Mermaid, Neuf .. the lovely, lovely mermaid.

[Iculus]

Does anyone have a better high-res image of this nebula? I click on the picture, the high res version has a 3 large black boxes on the upper right corner, which make it not a very pretty picture when setting it as my desktop background. The low res version is grainy and not very good quality. If anyone has a better pic, please post it!

Thanks!

[bystander]

Does anyone have a better high-res image of this nebula? I click on the picture, the high res version has a 3 large black boxes on the upper right corner, which make it not a very pretty picture when setting it as my desktop background. The low res version is grainy and not very good quality. If anyone has a better pic, please post it!

The "stair step" is an artifact of Hubble's WFPC2 (Wide Field Planetary Camera 2).

See http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/31/

[neufer]

Thanks for the Mermaid, Neuf .. the lovely, lovely mermaid.

You're SUPPOSED to be paying attention to the hippocampi

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090323.html
is only vaguely suggestive of Anita Ekberg.

[DavidLeodis]

I find it amazing that this image taken from the Hubble Space Telescope on August 10 2008 was released the next day! Well done to all involved.

It may be available already, but if not perhaps it may not be long before we can start to see images from future observatories in space in 'real time' or as close as makes little difference. That really would be out of this world!

[BMAONE23]

Just plug Hubbles Optics Processing Program into the WWW and do direct downloads. An interesting thought for Hubbles Future. Website Directed viewing as the Peoples Telescope. The Cost of operations could come through direct website adverts.

[aristarchusinexile]

Thanks for the Mermaid, Neuf .. the lovely, lovely mermaid.

You're SUPPOSED to be paying attention to the hippocampi

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090323.html
is only vaguely suggestive of Anita Ekberg.

Sorry about getting distracted, Neuf; and thanks once again. You know, even with my imagination I find it nearly impossible to see a seahorse in the apod, but man oh man hors'n around with Anita is easily imagined. It appears from the tribute that she wasn't a natural blonde? She sure was a natural beauty when young. Oh yeah, the apod image was very colourful blah blah blah.

[neufer]

An interesting thought for Hubbles Future. Website Directed viewing as the Peoples Telescope.
The Cost of operations could come through direct website adverts.

The Colbert Nation could even redirect the Hubble to permanently point at Stephen Colbert's home!
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<<No one is more fond of his own name than Stephen Colbert. For weeks, the Comedy Central faux pundit has urged members of his “Colbert Nation” to bombard NASA’s online contest to name a new room at the international space station with…you guessed it… “Colbert.” And – of course – he won, the AP reports. NASA listed four other options, but foolishly allowed voters to write-in, leading Colbert to bury the agency’s number two suggestion – Serenity. The comedian won by more than 40,000 votes.

The new room will be launched later this year, but NASA is still playing coy about whether it will actually give in to Colbert. Agency spokesman John Yembrick told the AP NASA will decide in April, but will give top vote-getters “the most consideration.” A few weeks ago, a NASA official phoned in to Colbert’s show and said the agency would have to “think” about his campaign. (Leading Colbert to complain the space guys think too much.)

This is just the latest of Colbert’s funny campaigns to get stuff named after him. He has also urged viewers to nominate his name for a bridge in Hungary, and to write him on to the South Carolina presidential primary ballot. Virgin Atlantic did, however, name one of its planes “Air Colbert.”

--------------------------------

<<Friends, let me speak some truthiness. We in the Colbert Nation should not expect a new room in the expanded international space station to be named for Stephen Colbert. Sage, oracle and visionary, though he may be, the host of cable television's "Colbert Report," is a fly in the Tang of the space program.

NASA asked the public to vote for a favorite name among four recommendations: Serenity, Legacy, Earthrise or Venture. You see the problem. All the official choices sound like brands of incontinence pads or detox clinics. Someone had to boldly lead in a new direction. Colbert selflessly asked viewers to write in his name in the online voting. Predictably, he is light years ahead of the others.

The temporary name on the new room is Node 3, chosen, I believe, for the Starship Commander Sigmoid Flexure.

NASA finds itself between a moon rock and popular support for its bloated budget appropriations. What to do? May I humbly suggest a compromise? The Associated Press reports the new room to be delivered to the space station will include a machine to turn astronaut's urine into drinking water. Name the device for Colbert. What better way to honor a man who so clearly filters the events of the day into potable analysis.>>

--------------------------------
Art Neuendorffer (clearly filtering the events of the day)

[bystander]

Help NASA Name Node 3!

NASA asked the public to vote for a favorite name among four recommendations:
Serenity, Legacy, Earthrise or Venture, but foolishly allowed voters to write-in.

I had a write in of my own, kind of an anagram of anagrams.

A RS: Atmosphere Revitalization System
U PA: Urine Processor Assembly

C upola
O GS: Oxygen Generation System
W RS: Water Recovery System

My suggestion, Golden Cow, didn't even get honorable mention.

[neufer]

Help NASA Name Node 3!

I had a write in of my own, kind of an anagram of anagrams.

I think you mean: Acronym of Acromyns:

A RS: Atmosphere Revitalization System
U PA: Urine Processor Assembly

C upola
O GS: Oxygen Generation System
W RS: Water Recovery System

My suggestion, Golden Cow, didn't even get honorable mention.

I consider you got off WAY EASY, bystander!!!!

<<When Moses went up onto Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:20), he left the Israelites for forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18). The Israelites feared that he would not return and asked Aaron to make gods for them (Exodus 32:1). Aaron complied and gathered up the Israelites' golden earrings. He melted them and constructed the golden calf. Aaron also built an altar before the calf. and the next day, the Israelites made offerings and celebrated. The Lord told Moses that his people had corrupted themselves, and that he planned to eliminate them, but Moses argued and pleaded that they should be spared (Exodus 32:11); the Lord relented. Moses went down from the mountain, but upon seeing the calf, he too became angry. He threw down the tablets upon which God's law had been written, and broke them. Moses then burnt the golden calf in the fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on water, and forced the Israelites to drink it. He questioned Aaron about the event, who admitted to collecting the gold, throwing it into the fire, and out came a calf. Then Moses gathered the sons of Levi and set them to slaying a large number of adult males (3000). A plague then struck the Israelites. Nevertheless, the Lord stated that he would one day visit the Israelites' sin upon them.>>

[bystander]

I had a write in of my own, kind of an anagram of anagrams.

I think you mean: Acronym of Acromyns:

You could be right , but I'm not sure what an acromyn is.

My suggestion, Golden Cow, didn't even get honorable mention.

I consider you got off WAY EASY, bystander!!!!

Sometimes I think the folks at NASA take themselves too seriously.

But the Colbert Nation may be on to something. I think it's kind of unwritten
NASA policy to not name anything after somebody living. So to name Node 3
after Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, they would have to kill him first.

[neufer]

I had a write in of my own, kind of an anagram of anagrams.

I think you mean: Acronym of Acromyns:

You could be right , but I'm not sure what an acromyn is.

I think it may be a near anagram for acrimony.

My suggestion, Golden Cow, didn't even get honorable mention.

I consider you got off WAY EASY, bystander!!!!

Sometimes I think the folks at NASA take themselves too seriously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZLl3XwlAIE

[bystander]

Re: (A)stronomical (U)nit : (C)an (O)f (W)orms
by neufer on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:06:07 +0000

neufer

Posts: 1000
Joined: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 08:57:05 +0000
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Congratulations, Art, 1K

[neufer]

Re: (A)stronomical (U)nit : (C)an (O)f (W)orms
by neufer on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:06:07 +0000

Posts: 1000
Joined: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 08:57:05 +0000
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Congratulations, Art, 1K

Thanks, bystander.

It's been a great ride (for me, at least).

Who is the all time champ...quantity wise?

[bystander]

It's been a great ride (for me, at least).

"What a long, strange trip it's been"

Who is the all time champ...quantity wise?

From those carried over to the new BBS;

Harry (2284),
BMAONE23 (1688),
orin stepanek (1226),
makc (1192),
neufer (1001),
bystander (897),
Chris Peterson (832).

[aristarchusinexile]

It's been a great ride (for me, at least).

"What a long, strange trip it's been"

Who is the all time champ...quantity wise?

From those carried over to the new BBS;

Harry (2284),
BMAONE23 (1688),
orin stepanek (1226),
makc (1192),
neufer (1001),
bystander (897),
Chris Peterson (832).

And they accuse ME
of spamming and I didn't even make the list. Is that why I was banned? So the rest of you would "make the list"? Oh well .. just jealous, folks. A person's gotta do what a person's gotta do.

[neufer]

It's been a great ride (for me, at least).

"What a long, strange trip it's been"

Neufer begins to tell Bystander a tale, but does not end it. Bystander is thus forced to postpone his execution in order to hear the conclusion. The next night, as soon as he finishes his post, he begins (and only begins) a new one, and Bystander, eager to hear the conclusion, postpones his execution once again. So it goes on for 1,001 posts.

[apodman]

Today the Café got its 10,000th post, also by neufer.

Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on Main Street.

[bystander]

Today the Café got its 10,000th post, also by neufer.

Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on Main Street.

Truckin' - Grateful Dead

Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me;
Other times, I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me ...
What a long, strange trip it's been.

[neufer]

Thanks for the Mermaid, Neuf .. the lovely, lovely mermaid.

This just in: Mermaids are NOT real, U.S. agency says
By Deborah Zabarenko, WASHINGTON, Fri Jul 6, 2012

(Reuters) - This may not be much of a surprise, but mermaids aren't real. No less an authority than the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has debunked the existence of the legendary half-woman, half-fish creatures. NOAA's National Ocean Service came out against the reality of mermaids after a documentary-style science fiction program on the Discovery Channel's Animal Planet suggested in May that the body of a mermaid had been found on a beach.

Of course, it wasn't. But the program prompted public inquiries to NOAA, which more commonly deals with questions about weather, water and solar storms. "No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found," the agency wrote on its "Ocean Facts" page. Humans have been wondering about mermaids since the Stone Age, as shown in cave paintings of magical female figures made 30,000 years ago, NOAA said. "But are mermaids real? No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found. Why, then, do they occupy the collective unconscious of nearly all seafaring peoples? That's a question best left to historians, philosophers and anthropologists."

Ben Sherman, a spokesman for the Ocean Service, said the item on mermaids was posted June 27 in response to queries about Discovery's fictional "documentary." There was also interest on a couple of NOAA's Facebook pages, he said in an email to Reuters on Thursday. "This Ocean Fact received little attention until the Discovery News Channel reposted it with commentary on June 29," Sherman wrote.

The Discovery site suggested NOAA responded because Discovery's documentary-style show, "Mermaids: The Body Found," had painted a convincing picture of the existence of mermaids. "The show was an 'X-Files' type fanciful mix of state-of-the-art computer generated animation, historical fact, conspiracy theory and real and faked footage sprinkled with enough bits of scientific speculation and real science to make it seem plausible," the Discovery site said.

In fact, NOAA scientists recorded a mysterious sound in the Pacific Ocean in 1997 that they called "The Bloop," and the source of this sound has never been identified. The Discovery program mentioned this finding.

For conspiracy theorists, there is a website called believeinmermaids.com/ that purports to show that it has been "seized" by the Justice Department and Homeland Security Investigations. "It is a hoax," wrote Ross Feinstein of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which oversees the seizure of web sites engaged in criminal activity. Claiming that mermaids exist is not a crime, Feinstein said by telephone. "This operation is focused on counterfeit goods and piracy, not freedom of speech - including those regarding the existence of mermaids," he wrote. "It is not our agency's position to judge whether or not mermaids exist or don't exist. ... Our agency has no open investigations into any issues regarding mermaids."