Saturday, April 16, 2011

N is for Nebula...

I'm a Trekkie.  In another lifetime/dream/alternate universe- I had a fling with Commander Riker, I exchanged recipes with Neelix, Quark tried to swindle a bar of latinum from me once, I was Watson to Data's Sherlock on the holodeck, I'm one of the few people that can get away with calling Capt. Picard "Jean Luc", Worf tried to teach me Klingon, but apparently - I have no head for foreign languages...Captain Janeway and I are tight!

Now, I've never actually dressed up or gone to a convention...although - hmm.  Could be fun.  :)  But, my (long-ish) point is that I adore the series, I think space exploration would be absolutely FASCINATING, and I'm sometimes sad when I realize our civilization won't advance to that state of technology in my lifetime...

Anyhow - as I was trekking through "N" words today, I settled on NEBULA: 

NOUN



1. space dust: a region or cloud of interstellar dust and gas appearing variously as a hazy bright or dark patch

And as I'm not lucky enough to see these wonders in space up close like the Star Trek crews, I can at least appreciate these awesome pictures.  I hope you enjoy them, too:

Silk Nebula (source)

Eagle Nebula (source)

Flaming Star nebula (source)

Orion and the nebula of creation (source)
 
LIVE LONG AND HAVE A HAPPY SATURDAY!!

19 comments:

Carol Riggs said...

Looooove those photos, wow!!! Gorgeous, thanks for sharing. :) Have a super-duper weekend!

Elena Solodow said...

Can't believe those are real pictures!

Notes Along the Way with Mary Montague Sikes said...

I absolutely adore these pictures. I often look at the astronomy photos of the day. Also enjoy fractals for the same reason.

Thanks for sharing the beauty of space.

Monti
NotesAlongTheWay

DEZMOND said...

nice to hear all of this, Donea, did you know I'm from Beta Zed? :)

Donna K. Weaver said...

Ah, Donea, I knew you were a kindred spirit! However, I've always made it clear to everyone that I am a Trekker as opposed to a Trekkie. ; ) My user name at the Leaky Lounge (a Harry Potter forum) is Seven of Nine--that's no giveaway, is it?

But I'm also so old that I became a Trekker when Classic ST was first being broadcast, and as a 13 year old I crushed on Mr. Spock.

But some of my favorite ST episodes come from TNG. I love it during the 2nd season (when Pollaski was the doctor) and she kept calling Data "Daata" (like a sheep's baa). When he told her his name was Data (dayta), she asked him what the difference was. He replied that one was his name, and one was not. I thought that was profound.

And my very favorite episode was the one where a scientist in Star Fleet wanted to take Data's positronic brain apart in an attempt to duplicate it even though they might destroy Data's brain in the process and Riker and Picard had to make opposing arguments for and against it--and if Riker didn't put everything he had in supporting it the judge would automatically rule again Data. It was a wonderful discussion about what constitutes sentience.

Wonderful post.

kjmckendry said...

Awesome pictures! So awe inspiring. :)

Bish Denham said...

I have not seen or heard of the Silk Nebula before. Gorgeous! (Yes its obvious you're a Star Trek fan...but of the latter day variety. I still love the original.)

Coreene Callahan said...

What fabulous photos! I must admit I'm not a Trekkie (so sorry), but I do find space fascinating. It is incredible to me that there is so much out there we have absolutely no clue about.

BTW...stop by my blog. I have a special treat waiting for you. Happy Weekend!

Southpaw said...

I love nebulas and I really like the word too. ;)

Michael Di Gesu said...

Gorgeous... Golden Eagle did a post on them as well.

Anonymous said...

Wow, those photos are awesome! I'm not a Trekkie, but I do enjoy watching the Star Trek movies with my husband, from time to time.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Cool photos! I am a Trekkie as well, although I've never attended a convention in costume.

Susan Kane said...

I, too, am a trekkie. Once, when my class was studying the Solar System, I invited some 'Klingons' to my classroom. They were happy to share their vision of space exploration with my agog-students. It was awesome.

Donna Shields said...

Beautiful pics of nebulas.

Trisha said...

Love those pics...I love all things spacey. I'm not a Trekkie but I do like sci-fi in general :D

MTeacress said...

Wow, those are really beautiful.

I remember watching Star Trek and then when I saw the captain on Priceline commercials I was surprised he'd gotten older. It's funny how he stayed young in my mind.

Have a great week. :)

KM Nalle said...

Gorgeous photos! I'm not a Trekkie per say, but I've enjoyed all of the series. My husband LOVES the show, but he would deny his Trekkie love. I don't know why. We recently watched the last Star Trek movie (the most recent one). Love it.

Donea Lee said...

Woo hoo!! Great to see some fellow Trekkie love out there!! And the nebulas really are quite amazing. There's just something magical and (obviously) other-worldly about them...so cool. :)

Deniz Bevan said...

Ah, Star Trek... I was 12... So, er, had a crush on Wesley [g]