I spotted this article 2 days ago: in 20 to 40 million years a gas cloud will collide with our galaxy and is promising to be a stellar (see what I did there) event even visible on our planet (if there’s people left to see it that is).
What struck me was the false-color radio telescope image of the cloud that accompanies the article. The cloud is made of cold gas, and emits only in radio wavelengths. It does not generate any visible light:
Image: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF
And it reminded me of an image I made around 2 years ago for my SF story Oneironaut:
I can see just like everyone else that both images aren’t similar… but there was just something… I don’t know - maybe its the atmosphere of the cloud image that struck a cord… One image is of something that exists somewhere out there, the other one is something I made up. I find that eerie (and also pretty cool that I made up something that actually exists!).
January 14th, 2008
wow. they are both way cool.
January 14th, 2008
You should jump on the gas cloud like you did with the guy who ripped your site off.
January 14th, 2008
I’m not sure the cloud will get my email in time though.