Double take: Do you see a face or a hand?
When this image from nasachandraxray of PSR B1509-58 – a spinning neutron star surrounded by a cloud of energetic particles about 17,000 light-years from Earth – was released in 2009, it created a ton of hype because people saw a hand-like shape in the X-ray emission. Pareidolia vibes were strong.
X-rays from Chandra in gold are seen along with infrared data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope in red, green and blue. Pareidolia struck again as others reported seeing a shape of a face in WISE's infrared data.
So... can you help us settle the debate? what do YOU see? Vote using the "✋" or "🙂" in the comments below!
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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