A guy at the star party in Flagstaff said my photo of the Orion Nebula looked like a 'cosmic jellyfish' and now I can't unsee it

My buddy once described the Horsehead Nebula as a space snail smoking a pipe. Ruined the whole image for me, I just see a giant gastropod with a briar now. Some comparisons stick in your brain forever. Makes you wonder what the original astronomers were smoking when they named these things.

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gavin6925mo ago

Remember they named it for the shape, not what they saw in it.

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jordan1085mo ago

Always pictured it as a bird in flight, but cosmic jellyfish is way more accurate. That's stuck in my head now too.

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