A footnote has been added to this entry. Sometimes, I see an image, and it literally raises the hair on the back of my neck. Take a look at this picture (click it for a higher-res version):
Doesn't look like much, does it? Ah, but like so much in astronomy, appearances can be very deceiving. The picture is from the Spitzer Space Telescope, an orbiting observatory sensitive to infrared light. Astronomers pointed this formidable instrument into a region of the sky in the constellation Draco, where there is a minimum of stars, galaxies, and dust to obscure any distant objects. The fact that you see so many objects in the image is a testament to how sensitive Spitzer is. The top part of the image shows the results of a ten-hour exposure. The image is 6x12 arcminutes across, roughly a fifth by a third the size of the full Moon ...
