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Chandra Discovers Enormous 'Skull'

Posted by michael on from the scary-nebula dept.

ActMatrix writes: "Just in time for Halloween, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory has imaged a portion of the Perseus A Cluster that looks frightfully like an enormous skull. The "eyes" are apparently created by bubbles of gas created by electrons blasting out of a region near an enormous black hole, and the "mouth" is a galaxy with an estimated 20 billion stars. Chandra has snapped some amazing images so far, and this one is no exception. The Discovery.Com article has a good pic of the skull."

8 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Skull found on slashdot, too by Nicolas+MONNET · · Score: 5

    OO
    o
    ^^^ < PH34R M3!!
    vvv


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  2. Re:Modern Superstition by Hanno · · Score: 5

    Hey, do you realize that this is just plain, simple fun?

    It's Halloween, so the researchers checked their library of images and looked for an image that fits the occasion. I for one prefer scientific projects where the researchers enjoy their work so much that they can do something like this.

    I'm sure that the same scientists will check their library again for Christmas and see if they can find some Christmas-related picture, too.

    It's a cute joke, that's it. Got it?

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  3. I can just see the tabloids... by Millennium · · Score: 5

    You know all the "Satan's Face Found In <insert weather pattern here>!!!" articles? They're going to have a field day with this one.

    My guess is we'll also see either the formation or mass suicide of at least one doomsday cult, which the media will connect with this. Mass hysteria will follow, accompanied by loads of new material for late-night talk show comedians.

    And finally, someone, somewhere is going to find a way to capitalize on this. Inside of two weeks we'll see "Space Skull" T-shirts, hats, etc.
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    1. Re:I can just see the tabloids... by Mignon · · Score: 3
      mass suicide of at least one doomsday cult

      At least that's something politicians can't blame on video games, music, television, movies, the internet, etc.

  4. The outer gods wont like this one... by Syllepsis · · Score: 5
    Nyarlahotep (sp??) should be coming to deal with those astronomers, the outer gods don't like to be photographed. It didnt look like Azathoth, but it could have been Cthugha, or hopefully just a star vampire.

    Pray that we won't be seeing Cthulhu anythime soon, but be on the lookout for fungi from Yuggoth.

  5. Re:Subjective interpretation by Bob+McCown · · Score: 3
    These nutcases have taken it to extremes. Go check out Enterprise Mission, ground zero for those loonies. Especially check out the 'conference center', where anyone can post 'findings'.

    A crystal city on the back of the moon! Mars Fungus! Frozen Pipes!

    Why do these people get all the good drugs?

  6. Re:Subjective interpretation by ansible · · Score: 5

    Yup, it goes to show how strongly our pattern recognition firmware is geared towards social interaction.

    It always makes me amused to hear about the "Face on Mars", which is a somewhat symmetrical mountain that does look vaguely like a human face. Some people take this as evidence of intelligent life trying to contact us. Sheesh.

    Occam's Razor, people. Just because you see some lights in the sky doesn't mean we're being visited by aliens. Just because the pyramids in Egypt are made out of big, heavy blocks doesn't mean that we had construction help from "Ancient Astronauts". And some long scratches in the ground do not mean it's an spaceship runway.

    What gets me the most are the people who believe crop circles are done by aliens. And this is after the original guys showed how they did it on TV!

    OK, that drifted a bit. I must be in rant mode today.

  7. Alas..... by AntiPasto · · Score: 3
    poor Yorick.... I downloaded him well.

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