outside the box

"The Eye of God" ?
Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Surfing through BlogExplosion, i came across chasing the moon (trackback) that featured this. The owner didnt mention any link, as she claims it only came from a forwarded mail. So, here my investigative insticts drove me to find out more.

i immediately went to Astronomy Picture of the Day to search for this so called "eye". And found out this is a real capture, from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, of the Helix Nebula that showed on May 10,2003.

Facts: The Helix Nebula is the closest example of a planetary nebula created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. A planetary nebula is gas around what used to be a star much like our sun.

The outer gasses of the star expelled into space appear from our vantage point as if we are looking down a helix. The remnant central stellar core, destined to become a white dwarf star, glows in light so energetic it causes the previously expelled gas to fluoresce. Although, a close-up of the inner edge of the Helix Nebula shows complex gas knots of unknown origin.

Fable: This does not occur only once every 3,000 years as other rumors imply. The circulating mail that started back in 2003 says the scientists called this "the eye of God" and a chain-reaction of comments have been added.

Puzzled Scientists: A similar case happened back in February 9,1996. Where the Eye of an Hourglass Nebula was discovered. Although it left a puzzling thought to the scientists.

First, the axis of this central region does not line up well with the outer hourglass structure. Next, the hot star (the white spot to the left of center) which ejected this gaseous nebula as it evolved towards its white dwarf phase, is not exactly at the center of the "eye".

These unexpected results leave astronomers looking for the missing pieces of the ejection process that created this unusual and beautiful structure.

Perhaps, there is somebody out there.. it may or may not be God, but whatever is out there that any human-made technology cannot explain.. is only left to our imaginations...

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atomicvelvetsigh drank tea with Pandora @ 8:21 AM 2 gazing outsiders

self portrait december: reflective surface
Monday, December 12, 2005

this is a big step for me.. i think. lol.. never have posted my pic anywhere online. (well, ok.. for those who only know me in real life) anyway.. here goes my first contribution for Self-Portrait Tuesday.

with the recent 25th death anniversary of John Lennon, i chose this as a reflecting surface for me.. because his music influenced me in a lot of ways. Thanks, John, you will forever be remembered..

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atomicvelvetsigh drank tea with Pandora @ 8:31 AM 2 gazing outsiders

Blogger BUG!
Sunday, December 04, 2005

is it just me, my computer or is blogger really experiencing problems with the "word verification" add-on?

all the blogs i go into today seems to bear the same picture that contains the letters to type. smentia..

i hope it wont last a day tho.. my comment junkie instincts are almist bursting! lol..

well for the meantime, i am disabling my word verification on my comments section. thus, giving chance for spammers to arise.. tssk..

aahh! ..it could be a new virus.. the Smentia virus!!!

oh well...

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atomicvelvetsigh drank tea with Pandora @ 7:10 AM 0 gazing outsiders