Adam Block • Dec 12, 2014
Pretty Pictures of the Cosmos: Strange and spooky
WeBo 1 is a strange planetary nebula (dying star) that was discovered in the mid-1900s. Although an interesting curiosity to astronomers (see the link below) no high-resolution color images have been taken of it...until now. :)
It is a tiny, faint and very cool object. The discovers (that recognized its true nature) wrote a readable astronomical journal article about it here (you will find small grayscale images of it as acquired using the 4 meter Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory).
I just love the nearly perfect oval glow amidst a sea of stars and nebulae.
Here is Sh2-140 presented in a way perhaps you have not seen before:
It is a subtle affair and dream-like. Come, stand with me on the shores of a cosmic ocean and together we will peer into the vastness of space...
Here is LBN 438:
The cloud of dust glows eerily both from scattered starlight and extended red emission due to the radiation of some nearby star. My mind alternates between something dancing in ecstasy or writhing in torture. Either way...very spooky...