Author Archives: Chompsky

Behold: the Hyades or Caldwell 41 – the closest star cluster to our own sun. To wit:

The Hyades open cluster is bright enough to have been remarked on even thousands of years ago, yet is not as bright or compact as the nearby Pleiades (M45) star cluster. Pictured here is a particularly deep image of the Hyades which has brings out vivid star colours and faint coincidental nebulas. The brightest star in the field is yellow Aldebaran, the eye of the bull toward the constellation of Taurus. Aldebaran, at 65 light-years away, is now known to be unrelated to the Hyades cluster, which lies 153 light-years away. The central Hyades stars are spread out over about 15 light-years. Formed about 625 million years ago, the Hyades likely shares a common origin with the Beehive cluster (M44), a naked-eye open star cluster toward the constellation of Cancer, based on M44‘s motion through space and remarkably similar age.

(Image: Jose Mtanous)

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A powerful short about perception and realisation by Sandralee Zinzen and Nicolas Nivesse of the PÔLE 3D School at Roubaix, northern France. To wit:

A teenage girl is staring at herself in a mirror. She doesn’t like what she sees; fat, skinny, ugly, she looks like a monster. Maybe she should just take a step back and realize she’s not that monstrous.

laughingsquid

Behold: the Lafitte X-Road – a street legal luxury off-roader formerly made by the now defunct Emirates-based Zarooq Motors, now resurrected by its former Operations Director Bruno Lafitte.

Only 30 of these 470bhp (or 720bhp in the twin turbo variant) V8 supercars will be made. Dakar-ready, with 43cm of suspended wheel travel at each corner or golf club carpark friendly with a plush leather carbon fibre and aluminium interior. There’s also a full electric version.

Yours from €420,000.

uncrate

Behold: spiral galaxy NGC 247, 11 million light years from us toward the southern constellation Cetus, smaller than the Milky Way and strangely redolent of something even smaller. To wit:

The pronounced void on one side of the galaxy’s disk recalls for some its popular name, the Needle’s Eye galaxy. Many background galaxies are visible in this sharp galaxy portrait, including the remarkable string of four galaxies just below and left of NGC 247 known as Burbidge’s Chain. Burbidge’s Chain galaxies are about 300 million light-years distant. NGC 247 itself is part of the Sculptor Group of galaxies along with the shiny spiral NGC 253.

(Image: Acquisition – Eric Benson, Processing – Dietmar Hager)

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