Starship Asterisk*

When was this picture taken? Lovely photograph!

I actually see two lions: a lioness, face forward,leaning a little, giving the finger and a lion in profile, looking left, munching on a bloody something...
:lol2:

[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51925390623_15cc262d51_c.jpg[/img]

[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51924322777_54b7454724_c.jpg[/img]

The lioness looks more like a house cat, which would explain the finger

[quote=heehaw post_id=321159 time=1646690380]
Pretty, oh so pretty ... all that interstellar ... filth.
[/quote]

And from such similar filth we have ultimately evolved. How ironic. Or appropriate. Depending on your mood.

Pretty, oh so pretty ... all that interstellar ... filth.

What happened to Alnitak in today's APOD?
Gordon Rogers www.gordonrogers.co.uk

[quote=larryc50@ATT.NET post_id=321147 time=1646665159]
I do think you missed an obvious nebula, down in the right corner of the image. I believe it's called the Playful Kitten Nebula.

playful kitten.jpg

(not sure this is working, but it appears as a kitten standing up, batting at something)
[/quote]
[float=right][attachment=0]Capture3.PNG[/attachment][/float]
Ahh, I think I see that one.
Although searching for the "playful kitten nebula" online
did not turn up anything for me.

These things really are quite volatile, though, right?
It surely only appears that way from our angle, and
only with the correct filters and processing,
and even then, the brain has to mess with the data
to interpret such a figure.

[quote="Cousin Ricky" post_id=321150 time=1646666788 user_id=141376]
NGC 2023 is surprisingly dim, and Alnitak is missing completely. I suppose a reflection nebula would be largely suppressed in a narrowband photo, but what accounts for Alnitak’s absence, especially since there are other stars in the photo, notably Sigma Orionis?
[/quote]

Indeed, Alnitak is missing in the APOD. I have tried to mark the position of it in my annotated version of the APOD. More importantly, I have tried to demonstrate how important Sigma Orionis is in the Horsehead region. Sigma Orionis has an enormous impact when it comes to sculpting the gas in the region.


[float=left][img3="A Lion in Orion. Image Credit & Copyright: Maroun Mahfoud"]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2203/HorseFlameLion_Mahfoud_960.jpg[/img3][/float][float=right][attachment=0]APOD March 7 2022 Orion near Horsehead annotated.png[/attachment][c][size=85][color=#0040FF]Alnitak and the powerful UV light of Sigma Orionis. I know, it looks like a cobweb![/color][/size][/c][/float]

[clear][/clear]

Ann

NGC 2023 is surprisingly dim, and Alnitak is missing completely. I suppose a reflection nebula would be largely suppressed in a narrowband photo, but what accounts for Alnitak’s absence, especially since there are other stars in the photo, notably Sigma Orionis?

I do think you missed an obvious nebula, down in the right corner of the image. I believe it's called the Playful Kitten Nebula.

playful kitten.jpg

(not sure this is working, but it appears as a kitten standing up, batting at something)

[attachment=1]HorseFlameLion_Mahfoud_960.jpg[/attachment]
Well Ya; I see the roaring lion; and some other strange creatures as
well! 8-)
[attachment=0]aVkUL24.jpeg[/attachment]
Kitty excited about something! :lol2:

[quote=Ann post_id=321141 time=1646632552 user_id=129702]
My pareidolia isn't sharp enough for me to spot the lion in Orion, I'm afraid.

So all I can offer is a sleepy lion:


[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=friHNUzv-B4[/youtube]

[clear][/clear]


Ann
[/quote]


I can also only see the brown mane, but not the lion's face. But for me the horsehead nebula is also a pareidolia resp. a "trojan" horse. In the IR-wavelenghts you can see the snake inside ;-)

[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51923320613_929a67bfa0_c.jpg[/img]
[size=50]Jac Berne (flickr)[/size]

But actually I hav no idea to explane that...

Uhhh, maybe at the upper left, but I don't think I see it either.
A very nice image, nevertheless. Overall, it looks like a striking, bright orange version of the northern lights.

My pareidolia isn't sharp enough for me to spot the lion in Orion, I'm afraid.

So all I can offer is a sleepy lion:


[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=friHNUzv-B4[/youtube]

[clear][/clear]


Ann

[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220307.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_220307.jpg[/img] [size=150]A Lion in Orion[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] Yes, but can you see the lion? A deep exposure shows the famous [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap171227.html]dark[/url] indentation that looks like a horse's head, visible just left and below center, and known unsurprisingly as the Horsehead Nebula. The Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) is part of a [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181014.html]vast complex[/url] of dark absorbing [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_dust]dust[/url] and bright [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emission_nebula]glowing gas[/url]. To bring out details of the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse]Horse[/url]head's pasture, an astrophotographer artistically combined light accumulated for over 20 hours in [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H_alpha]hydrogen[/url] (orange), [url=https://periodic.lanl.gov/8.shtml]oxygen[/url] (blue), and [url=https://periodic.lanl.gov/16.shtml]sulfur[/url] (green). The resulting spectacular picture captured from [url=https://youtu.be/ZLAPU_puGWg]Raachine[/url], [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon]Lebanon[/url], details an intricate [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190318.html]tapestry of gaseous wisps[/url] and dust-laden [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161207.html]filaments[/url] that were created and sculpted over eons by [url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/multimedia/gallery/pia14103.html]stellar winds[/url] and ancient [url=http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/snr.html]supernovas[/url]. The featured composition [url=https://i.imgur.com/aVkUL24.jpeg]brings up[/url] another [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia]pareidolic[/url] animal icon -- that of a lion's head -- in the expansive orange colored gas above the horse's head. The [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141209.html]Flame Nebula[/url] is visible just to the left of the Horsehead. The [url=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1293&bih=977&q=horsehead+site:apod.nasa.gov&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch]Horsehead Nebula[/url] lies 1,500 [url=https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html]light years[/url] distant towards the [url=https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/constellations/en/]constellation[/url] of [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040304.html]Orion[/url].


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