Starship Asterisk*

bystander wrote: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?p=184503#p184503

Buddhist statue acquired by Nazis is space rock
New Scientist | Colin Barras | 2012 Sep 27

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vai%C5%9Brava%E1%B9%87a#In_Tibet wrote:
<<Vaiśravaṇa (Sanskrit वैश्रवण) or Vessavaṇa is the name of the chief of the Four Heavenly Kings and an important figure in Buddhist mythology.
In Tibet, Vaiśravaṇa is considered a protector of the Dharma. He is also known as the King of the North and is often depicted on temple murals outside the main door. Vaiśravaṇa is also thought of as a god of wealth and as such, he is sometimes portrayed carrying a citron, the fruit of the jambhara tree, a pun on another name of his, Jambhala. The fruit helps distinguish him iconically from depictions of Kuvera. When shown seated, his right foot is generally pendant and supported by a lotus-flower on which is a conch shell. His mount is a snow lion.>>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika:

Carl Sagan in his book Comet (1985) reproduces Han period Chinese manuscript (the Book of Silk, 2nd century BC) that shows comet tail varieties: most are variations on simple comet tails, but the last shows the comet nucleus with four bent arms extending from it, recalling a swastika. Sagan suggests that in antiquity a comet could have approached so close to Earth that the jets of gas streaming from it, bent by the comet's rotation, became visible, leading to the adoption of the swastika as a symbol across the world.