What Do You See in a Nebula?

Sometimes looking at the night sky can say more about the observer than the universe – at least that’s how it feels when we’re looking at clouds of dust and gas that remind us of a Rorschach inkblot test. This image was one of many sections of Spitzer’s GLIMPSE360 panorama that were tweeted to us by the public last month, when we asked people to capture and name interesting things they found in our groundbreaking image of the galactic plane. We had some truly creative submissions, including “Star Scream,” “Lonely Jellyfish,” “Follow the Leader,” and “Jabba the Hutt” going to show that people really can see anything in the clouds of dust and gas that weave their way through our galaxy. 

This image was submitted by @kevinmgill, who named it “Nebula Does Not Approve.” While we fully appreciate a good Grumpy Cat reference, we also showed it to the rest of the Spitzer public affairs team, who collectively have spotted a woolly mammoth, a fish, a raccoon, a Minecraft Creeper and a “cute coyote, cocking his head in a really inquisitive way.” How about you? Do you see any of these, or does your imagination show you something entirely different? 

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