In astronomy, a polarizing view is good

One of the basic principles of modern science is that the physics we understand here, on Earth, work everywhere. This turns out to be a pretty good assumption, because we see it coming true time and again. That knowledge can then be used to figure out things that are happening at very large distances -- even well across the Universe. With that in mind, I present to you LAB-1: a glowing glob of gas as seen by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope: