Stars in the upper right (where this cosmic Godzillas eyes and snout would be) are an unidentified range from Earth however within our galaxy.
NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope imaged this cloud of gas and dust. Often if you simply crop an area differently, it brings out something that you didnt see before. The star-forming region was captured by NASAs retired Spitzer Space Telescope. See what the colors represent: https://t.co/RkQqfk2SpR pic.twitter.com/8qqwicyDZk— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) October 26, 2021
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We look at clouds & & let our imaginations cut loose. In the spirit of Halloween, this nebula– a cloud of gas & & dust– looks a bit like Godzilla. The star-forming region was captured by NASAs retired Spitzer Space Telescope. See what the colors represent: https://t.co/RkQqfk2SpR pic.twitter.com/8qqwicyDZk— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) October 26, 2021
NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope imaged this cloud of gas and dust. The colors represent various wavelengths of infrared light and can reveal such features as places where radiation from stars had actually heated up the surrounding product. Any similarity to Godzilla is purely imaginary. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Caltech astronomer Robert Hurt has processed a lot of the images from the now retired Spitzer telescope, and he found what he thought looked like Godzilla in this image of a nebula.
In some cases if you just crop a location in a different way, it brings out something that you didnt see in the past. It was the eyes and mouth that roared Godzilla to me.”
Weve written often about how pareidolia– the human propensity to see faces or other features in random images– works its magic across the universes. Theres the well-known face on Mars, Bigfoot on Mars, and even Han Solo on Mercury.
Today, just in time for Halloween, heres a monster in a picture from the Spitzer Space Telescope. One astronomer sees Godzilla … or is it Cookie Monster?
Spitzer, which was retired in 2020, utilized infrared to see lots of items in deep space, but was particularly good at finding nebulae that were too cold to radiate visible light, or those that were hidden behind dust clouds. This isnt the first time “creepy” things have actually been found in Spitzer images: other scientists have actually spied a black widow spider, a Jack-o-Lantern, a snake, an exposed human brain, and the Starship Enterprise, among other things.
NASA says this nebula is situated is in the constellation Sagittarius, along the airplane of the Milky Way. Stars in the upper right (where this cosmic Godzillas eyes and snout would be) are an unidentified distance from Earth however within our galaxy.
If you like both astronomy and art, have a look at this Spitzer Artistronomy web app, which features drawing tools and photos of 9 nebulae captured by Spitzer, so users can highlight their own visions of cosmic animals.
You can see all of the information and images gathered by Spitzer throughout its life time at the Spitzer information archive. Possibly youll find your own spooky views!