Starship Asterisk*

Maggie Simpson, from The Simpsons

Cortex Nebula
Lobed Nebula
Cerebral Nebula

Remembering my grandmother's candy-making skills, the "Sugar-Puff" nebula would be an apt name, describing what I remember of the strawberry flavoring and the light foamy texture!

the first thing I thought was a "bowtie"

My first thought was 'The Pillow Nebula', but what do you think about calling it 'The Magic Carpet Nebula'?

I keep seeing a Ninji, from Super Mario 2.

I agree I see something flying with this one. The faint outer rings certainly resemble sonic waves and the nebula has a tail! I was thinking of a stingray or some kind of flying cat, but I'm liking the flying squirrel.

Wow! That took about many different attempts before the correct answer to the question could be discovered. My first attempt was 'Flag', then 'flag'. Then, doubting my skills at finding the correct word, various combinations of upper-and lower-case first letters and numbers of letters in the syllable were tried, until 'Fla' was found.

The different approaches to pronunciation taken by different scholars of an essentially dead language is at the root of the problem. 'Fla-' as the first syllable sounds quite alien to me. Maybe others are having the same issue?

Ahh well; it was an interesting challenge. ;-p

Thanks for the excellent images; they brighten each day for us, and teach us many things about the Universe.

I recommend the Bubble Gum Nebula.

'Chubby Star Nebula' or 'Star Pillow Nebula'... Mostly, it looks like one of those helium star-shaped party balloons, IMHO

It's obviously The Charmander Nebula, flying through space with its tail at the bottom. Just google a Charmander and you'll immediately see what I mean. The Pillow Nebula is too vague a name for such a Charmanderesque shape. I believe astronomical taxonomy and naming should better reflect the modern world with modern symbols, and there's no better way to do that than by naming this adorable nebula after an equally adorable Pokémon. Please consider supporting this name. Thank you for your time.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130826.html wrote:
Pictured above in assigned colors, the resolved, layered, and dust-laced features of NGC 7027 might remind sky enthusiasts of a familiar icon that could be the basis for an informal name. Please feel free to make suggestions -- some suggestions are being recorded, for example, in an online APOD discussion forum.

• It must be sweeps week at Starship Asterisk

[url=http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=130826]online APOD discussion forum[/url] wrote:

• Replies: 1198
  Views: 39255

I would vote for Tardigrade Nebula.

tmulcahy@unm.edu wrote:

KGDOBSON wrote:Either the "Beignet Nebula" or the "Sopapilla Nebula." I favor the first--it trips off the tongue better. Also, some cooks make round sopapillas, but I have never seen beignets that weren't pillow-shaped.

Click to view full size image

I vote for SOPAPILLA Nebuala! It was the first thing I thought of.

NGC 7027 looks like a rose to me. How about the Rose Nebula?

It looks like a poptart to me.....

It's definitely a Piñata!

The Brain Nebula

Dogwood nebula. Dogwood has a four petalled pinkish flower. Google it.

ixitxachtl wrote:Dogwood nebula. Dogwood has a four petalled pinkish flower. Google it.

I agree, the dogwood nebula.

ixitxachtl wrote:Dogwood nebula. Dogwood has a four petalled pinkish flower. Google it.

Guest wrote:I agree, the dogwood nebula.

Why does it have to be pink? I think this is the same data set, just different processing.
But then, dogwoods in Oklahoma are white.

bystander wrote:Why does it have to be pink? I think this is the same data set, just different processing.

It's not. The pink arises naturally as I added the NICMOS (near-infrared) data to the red channel, as it is a longer wavelength.

Farfalle pasta

Farfalle Nebula
Bow Tie Pasta Nebula
Bow Tie Nebula

Farfalle nebula could be the proper name
w/ Bow Tie Nebula the common name

~Craig Brownell

bystander wrote:Why does it have to be pink? I think this is the same data set, just different processing.

Quite right. Even with different processing it still looks like a dogwood.