A Pre-Miocene Mirage

The graceful Whirlpool galaxy (Messier 51) in a gravitational embrace with its companion. 

At the center of what is known as a grand design galaxy, space swirls around and disappears into a black hole. Just like water swirling down a bathtub or kitchen sink drain. What we see as the spiral arms are the trail of stars and dust as they follow the swirling curves in spacetime.

An Ancient Owl (that isn't there)

The Owl Nebula a planetary (starburst) nebula about 2000 light years away in Ursa Major, shot from my backyard on March 24, 2021. At a magnitude of 9.9 it is a very faint target for my street-light bathed backyard, but a 5 inch scope at 90 second exposures begins to pull in the details of the owl-eyes. The two circular dark spots in a green orb give it an owl-eye like appearance. The central star approaching a white dwarf stage in it’s lifecycle. But of course, despite the tempting likeness, there’s no owl there. In fact its not green either. More on that later.