Nessie in Space! (And Other Additions to the Celestial Zoo)

Why do people see so many animal shapes in space? Seven of the twelve constellations that define the zodiac are animals. Multiple ancient cultures saw the stars in and around the Big Dipper as a bear--even though squint as I may, the best I can do is find one large spoon and some scattered points of light. And it is not just the skygazers of long ago who had animals on the brain. Astronomers today are still very much of the same mindset. A Seagull Take this brand-new image of the Seagull Nebula from the European Southern Observatory’s 2.2 meter (87-inch) telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. There’s a lot to admire about it scientifically. This is an active starforming region in the constellation Monoceros, near the bright star Sirius. It is one of the places where our galaxy is still living and breathing and churning out new stars. The dark areas are clouds of cool, dusty gas that is slowly gathering under the pull of gravity. In places where knots of gas have collapsed completely in on themselves, they grow so hot and dense that they begin to ignite thermonuclear reactions and shine: A star is born. The hottest, most energetic of these newborns flood the nebula with ultraviolet rays that cause ubiquitous hydrogen atoms to glow red. The process is all beautifully laid out here, in colors too subtle for the human eye to perceive direclty. But is there anything about the blobs and waves and ruby swatches that screams “seagull”?