20110329

Overheard: Horsehead Nebula dementor

Astronomy 210, Spring Semester 2011
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

The_Horshead_Nebula [sic]
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Horshead_Nebula.jpg
Originally uploaded by the European Southern Observatory

(Overheard during slide presentation on emission/reflection/dark nebulae, with slide of Barnard 33 (Horsehead Nebula) on-screen.)

Instructor: "Just like when you look at clouds overhead, astronomers love to look at nebulae in space, and ask themselves, 'Okay, what does that look like?'" (Turning around and gesturing towards slide of Barnard 33) "So, what does this nebula look like to you?"

(Beat.)

Student: "Like a dementor--from Harry Potter!"

1 comment:

Pete said...

Thank you! My gf and I had stumbled onto this nebula while browsing a catalogue for fun but couldn't remember where it was, so we googled 'dementor nebula" and this popped up! Thanks!