The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
Post Reply
User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21592
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by bystander » Wed Nov 26, 2008 4:51 pm

APOD: 2008 Nov 26 - The Horsehead Nebula in Orion
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081126.html

A popular subject on APOD. Here's many views of the photogenic equine.
http://apod.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search?Horsehead

Several discussions in the Asterisk, too.
Horsehead history, fusion, orientation, repeat (06 Apr 2008)
APOD horseheads (APOD 21 Feb 2008)
The Horsehead Nebula (APOD 27 May 2007)
Environs of Horsehead Nebula (APOD 21 Feb 2006)

Hey, Ed, relative of yours? :wink:

User avatar
orin stepanek
Plutopian
Posts: 8200
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:41 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by orin stepanek » Wed Nov 26, 2008 5:50 pm

In great respect for Ed; I kind of thought he may have started a post on the subject since he sometimes calls himself Mr. Ed!  :P  But maybe the Horse's Head doesn't talk. After all; Mr Ed is a talking horse.  :wink:

Orin
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by neufer » Wed Nov 26, 2008 6:10 pm

orin stepanek wrote:In great respect for Ed;
I kind of thought he may have started a post on the subject since he sometimes calls himself Mr. Ed!  :P
But maybe the Horse's Head doesn't talk. After all; Mr Ed is a talking horse.  :wink:

Orin : Look under the surface to find the answers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g88asCqfSgg
Art Neuendorffer

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21592
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by bystander » Wed Nov 26, 2008 6:40 pm

orin stepanek wrote:But maybe the Horse's Head doesn't talk.
neufer wrote:Orin : Look under the surface to find the answers.
And now we know why the horse's head doesn't talk! :shock:

User avatar
orin stepanek
Plutopian
Posts: 8200
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:41 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by orin stepanek » Wed Nov 26, 2008 6:54 pm

neufer wrote:
orin stepanek wrote:In great respect for Ed;
I kind of thought he may have started a post on the subject since he sometimes calls himself Mr. Ed!  :P
But maybe the Horse's Head doesn't talk. After all; Mr Ed is a talking horse.  :wink:

Orin : Look under the surface to find the answers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g88asCqfSgg
Art; You must see a lot of movies! I did go to that one also. The Godfather was a flick that was very well done. I prefer movies of a gentler nature though. Like Black Beauty or the Horse Whisperer. They were a little easier to digest. :? However most of the movies I see today are reruns on the tube.

Orin
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by neufer » Wed Nov 26, 2008 8:04 pm

orin stepanek wrote:
neufer wrote:
orin stepanek wrote:In great respect for Ed;
I kind of thought he may have started a post on the subject since he sometimes calls himself Mr. Ed!  :P
But maybe the Horse's Head doesn't talk. After all; Mr Ed is a talking horse.  :wink:

Orin : Look under the surface to find the answers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g88asCqfSgg
Art; You must see a lot of movies! I did go to that one also. The Godfather was a flick that was very well done.

I prefer movies of a gentler nature though. Like Black Beauty or the Horse Whisperer.
They were a little easier to digest. :? However most of the movies I see today are reruns on the tube.

Orin
My scientific associate Luca Brasi is a friend of Ed and
so was simply making ORIoN and offer he can't refuse. :roll:
Art Neuendorffer

User avatar
orin stepanek
Plutopian
Posts: 8200
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:41 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by orin stepanek » Wed Nov 26, 2008 8:23 pm

Art; I hope you weren't planning on sending me a horses head. :( I do consider Ed a friend. He stood up for me a couple of times. 8)

Orin
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18595
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Nov 26, 2008 9:26 pm

Or, as I've long seen it, the Horse's Ass Nebula.

Image
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

apodman
Teapot Fancier (MIA)
Posts: 1171
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:48 pm
Location: 39°N 77°W

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by apodman » Wed Nov 26, 2008 9:32 pm

Chris, did you draw that horse yourself? Maybe you missed your calling after all.

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18595
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Nov 26, 2008 10:16 pm

apodman wrote:Chris, did you draw that horse yourself? Maybe you missed your calling after all.
I'm afraid I did. I think I'll stick with physics, though <g>.

In fact, I saw a similar drawing many years ago, and it's changed my outlook on this object ever since. I wish I knew who to credit for the original inspiration.
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by neufer » Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:13 am

Chris Peterson wrote:Or, as I've long seen it, the Horse's Ass Nebula.
Image
Well, that would explain the orange dropping underneath:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081126.html

Is the star under the tail where SlARTibARTfast lives?
-----------------------------------
<<In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the planet Magrathea [Mega-urethra?] is located in the Horsehead Nebula. The surface is described as "Blighted". The book says that, "Bits of it were dullish grey, bits if it dullish brown, the rest of it rather less interesting to look at. It was like a dried-out marsh, now barren of all vegetation and covered with a layer of dust about an inch thick.">>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magrathea#Magrathea
-----------------------------------
Art Neuendorffer

ngc1535
Ensign
Posts: 49
Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2005 4:18 am

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by ngc1535 » Fri Nov 28, 2008 9:02 am

Horse's head or otherwise, in the "end" I hope you enjoyed the image. After that little art Chris, I am not certain I can image this for a while. <g>
-Adam Block

apodman
Teapot Fancier (MIA)
Posts: 1171
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:48 pm
Location: 39°N 77°W

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by apodman » Fri Nov 28, 2008 5:11 pm

We are always honored to hear from an APOD's originator.

Andy Wade
Science Officer
Posts: 219
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2006 7:55 am
Location: Oakworth, Yorkshire, England
Contact:

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by Andy Wade » Fri Nov 28, 2008 5:37 pm

Chris Peterson wrote:Or, as I've long seen it, the Horse's Ass Nebula.

Image
Oh. That's ruined it for me now! Thanks for that Chris. :D
Regards,
Andy.

astrolabe
Science Officer
Posts: 499
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:53 am
Location: Old Orchard Beach, Maine

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by astrolabe » Sun Nov 30, 2008 6:04 pm

Hello Chris,

Not bad but hope you don't have ideas for the Little Dumbell or the Witches Broom! IOW this is not being posted as encouragement. Sorry....
"Everything matters.....So may the facts be with you"-astrolabe

User avatar
NoelC
Creepy Spock
Posts: 876
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2005 2:30 am
Location: South Florida, USA; I just work in (cyber)space
Contact:

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by NoelC » Mon Dec 01, 2008 9:04 am

Brings to mind an interesting quandary... In my experience, about 1 in 10 people don't see the horse's head in the Horsehead Nebula. It's one of those things I can't get my mind around, because it jumps right out at me.

Chris has pointed out he sees it differently. Anyone else here either not see the horse or see it differently?

This might just be an insight into the human mind.

-Noel

apodman
Teapot Fancier (MIA)
Posts: 1171
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:48 pm
Location: 39°N 77°W

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by apodman » Mon Dec 01, 2008 2:23 pm

NoelC wrote:Anyone else here ... see it differently?
Keeping in mind that I was swayed to unknown degree by the accompanying title ("Horsehead"), my first impression of the shape of the nebula was "Seahorse" - so "Horsehead" was not a big stretch. It was years later that I learned the picture was sideways compared with the north-south orientation of nearby Orion. If my initial impression of the nebula had been with no title and the "nose" pointing upward, who knows what I would have seen - probably the same thing.

ImageImage

User avatar
NoelC
Creepy Spock
Posts: 876
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2005 2:30 am
Location: South Florida, USA; I just work in (cyber)space
Contact:

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by NoelC » Mon Dec 01, 2008 9:41 pm

Yes, I've felt the similarity to sea horses myself. Perhaps when it was first named people had more familiarity with land horses.

-Noel

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18595
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Dec 01, 2008 9:49 pm

NoelC wrote:Yes, I've felt the similarity to sea horses myself. Perhaps when it was first named people had more familiarity with land horses.
Before my viewpoint was corrupted by the suggestion that the horse is best seen from the rear, I also saw it either as a seahorse, or as a knight chess piece, which is usually a horse.
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

User avatar
emc
Equine Locutionist
Posts: 1307
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:15 pm
AKA: Bear
Location: Ed’s World
Contact:

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by emc » Tue Dec 02, 2008 7:37 pm

Image

First, let me apologize for my late reading of this thread... (I didn't read it until after posting Spaceman... funny how we get on common threads in different threads... it's like we are tied together with string)

Butt since I discovered myself as part of the subject in this discussion I feel compelled to reply... I almost wish I hadn't read this thread because my impression of the nebula is also changed forever thanks to Chris's drawing... :wink: I was seeing it as the seahorse and/or chess piece too. However, in my observation relative to Chris's drawing... :shock:

Chris, I suggest moving the tail up and to the side a bit more... a bit higher would be more anatomically correct... maybe a sweeping out to the right in order to allow the strategically located dust cloud to depict what it now looks like to me... equidae flatulence. Say, maybe that stuff helps kick start star formation???

______
MrEd(2)
Ed
Casting Art to the Net
Sometimes the best path is a new one.

User avatar
BMAONE23
Commentator Model 1.23
Posts: 4076
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2005 6:55 pm
Location: California

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by BMAONE23 » Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:29 pm

It might even look more convincing if imaged to enhance Methane gas in the cloud
(keep the Tail where it was drawn and it resembles the back side of a Moose right down to the right hind leg being slightly bent.)

User avatar
emc
Equine Locutionist
Posts: 1307
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:15 pm
AKA: Bear
Location: Ed’s World
Contact:

Re: The Horse's Head Once Again (2008 Nov 26)

Post by emc » Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:44 pm

Moose?
Now I'm seein' an alligator...
Image
Ed
Casting Art to the Net
Sometimes the best path is a new one.

Post Reply