Extreme Astronomy: The Witch In Space - Extreme Astronomy

For your Halloween viewing pleasure, below I present the witch in space. Apparently, we are not alone in the universe - there are witches out there!

Yeah, yeah, I know,... it's just a tad late! But hey, that's the story of my life these days. Besides, I love the Witch Head Nebula, and it's just plain cool in any season! So don't be giving any grief, or I'll curse ya to the best of my space witch abilities! Besides, besides,... this is my first entry to my new blog on Extreme Astronomy, and I'm just testing it out! Hmmm.... looks like a good test so far!


IC 2118: The Witch Head Nebula
Image Data: Digitized Sky Survey; Color Composite: Noel Carboni
Explanation: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble -- maybe Macbeth should have consulted the Witch Head Nebula. This suggestively shaped reflection nebula is associated with the bright star Rigel in the constellation Orion. More formally known as IC 2118, the Witch Head Nebula glows primarily by light reflected from bright star Rigel, located just off the upper right edge of the full image. Fine dust in the nebula reflects the light. The blue color is caused not only by Rigel's blue color but because the dust grains reflect blue light more efficiently than red. The same physical process causes Earth's daytime sky to appear blue, although the scatterers in Earth's atmosphere are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. The nebula lies about 1000 light-years away. [Preceding text and photo from: APOD December 11, 2006 You can also get the full 3.07MB image there]

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For the numerically challenged of you out there, some very Tricky additional mathematical research has revealed to me that this nebula may be about 1,000 light years away, but it's about 6 quadrillion miles away - that's 6,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles! (If ya want the metric equivalent in kilometers, move to England!) And additional, but careful optical scrutiny reveals that this witch apparently has no broomstick, so there's little chance she'll be able to join Earth this year for our annual Halloween celebration. On the other hand, I'm betting that she knows we are looking at her, and I'm thinking that no witch appreciates being stared at, so it might be best to beware of possible cosmic spells sent our way this October 31st!

There is a sparsity of research data concerning the speed of a witch's spell however, and we simply don't know if spells utilize FTL (Faster Than Light) magic or not. So, even
though this witch is kind of nebulous, I wouldn't stare at her too long! After all, you wouldn't want to be turned into a nebula yourself, would you?

It may also be useful to note that on Halloween, it's the Speed of Dark that's critical, and studies have shown conclusively that most of us have no clue about it. A moment's thought will clarify this glaring gap in our knowlege. Have you ever noticed that whenever you turn the light switch on in a room, Dark was already there? And when the light from the light bulb races across the room, Dark always preceeds it! Light may indeed chase the Dark away, but it's light doing the chasing, not the other way around you know!

You've been warned!! (Or, at least maybe Treated!)
Heeeeeeeeee, heee, heeeeeeeee, hee, he, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

(you may substitute your own appropriate witch's cackle above)