You
may have seen this image in your Facebook feed or some other internet
forum. Or maybe an email from your aunt Gladys. The caption is usually
something along the lines of
“Via Hubble: The cosmic "ice sculptures" of the Carina Nebula. Scientists are still trying to explain the beautiful spires.”
But
it’s not. Yes, it’s an astronomy image, but it wasn’t taken by Hubble,
isn’t the Carina Nebula, and the original doesn’t quite look like that.
The finished image is an artwork by
Adam Ferriss, who never intended it to be construed as anything else. Bad Astronomer Phil Plait tells
the story of a neat image manipulation that took on a fictional life of its own.
It’s an example the many things on the internet that turn out to be
something other than what it claims, while the true story behind them is
interesting anyway.
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