Stunning Space!

Well...a splendid and goodly day to you! I am always thrilled to hear your click and, through the nebula of webclouds, catch your visage as you hunch over your monitor. Eh? You talking to me? Of course I am so pull up a chair and Madge will bring over a mug of coffee and a virtual treat for you. After all, it is Sunday.  Speaking of nebulae, I don't know about you but I find photos of space fascinating, majestic and awe-inspiring. You may have noticed that a lot of my digital art has a space-like quality to it and in both cases, possibilities are endless. Here are two amazing images upon which to cast your gaze today...

The first one is centred on the star HD 87643. It beautifully shows the extended nebula of gas and dust that reflects the light from the star. The central star's wind appears to have shaped the nebula, leaving bright, ragged tendrils of gas and dust. A careful investigation of these features seems to indicate that there are regular ejections of matter from the star every 15 to 50 years. The image, taken with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla, is based on data obtained through different filters: B, V and R.


The second image shows colourful gases and brilliant stars captured amid the beauty of space in this Hubble image of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The star-forming region visible here is called LHA 120-N 11. To me it kind of looks like a dragon chasing it's prey across a sky of violet gas. Better lay off those funny mushrooms, eh!It's no wonder that people have looked up at the stars since there first were people to look up.   See ya, eh!  Bob