"has quickly been dubbed the "Eye of God", for obvious reasons"

What obvious reasons? Yes, it looks like an eye, but lets not let credulity and religious bullcrap get in the way of perfectly good astronomy.

That's where Sauron got to!

STOP STARING AT ME !

GAAAAAH !!!

No-one ever told me god was a cyclops

I'd put money* on there being a similar 'nebula' adjacent, along with a nose, mouth, etc...

Just look out for the coming of the great white handkerchief.

*about 3p if anyone wants to take the bet.

Lets keep the non-existant supernatural out of science.

Surely anybody with even a basic sense of logic can only be drawing the conclusion from this and various rigourously conducted scientific research that there is NO "god".

If the sky-fairy brigade want to take every bit of evidence leading towards big bang theory and turn that on its head to meet their own "god" agenda then that is their right, of course, but I would expect El Reg to fall on the side of rationalism not superstition.

Sure, it looks like an (human/animal) eye, but given nobody (who hasn't received a sharp blow on the head or is suffering mental illness or delusions) has actually seen "god" (why might that be I wonder??) how does anybody conclude it looks like the "eye of god".

</rant>

Paris - at least she exists.

Not to deflate this story but this image came round on email months ago.

It's nice but not exactly what I'd call the Eye of God.

Looks like he had a late night.

And blue eyes? Think he/she/it has got blonde hair too? Maybe a beard and white robe as well?

Oh do just give up.

Besides there's loads of better pics of galaxies and nebula that would make a much better contender for 'Eye of God' status.

Personally I'll keep an eye out for the left earlobe of God.

Or maybe the quiff of the Almighty.

"Clams got legs!"

Oh. Sorry. Wrong cartoon.

Mine's the one with the "Footrot Flats" compendium in the pocket.

The Eye of Harmony.

Less likely to agitate the pro/anti-religious nutters, and finally some stellar recognition for Gallifrey. Yes I know that strictly it should be a black hole, but lets be a little creative. Think of it as a re-imagining.

I guess I'll have the one with the really stiff high collar and shoulder pads.

(Want to know why they wear them? To avoid being stabbed in the back by all the other Lord Cardinals)

Hmmm, i've had this image as my desktop wallpaper for over a year now, how come this story is being regurgitated ?

If it's the "other end", wouldn't that be a black hole in the centre?

Though considering black holes tend to swallow matter than throw it out... anyone else remember the Red Dwarf episode about the planet where time travels backwards and the scene with the Cat at the end?

I thought that happened every 28 days. on the "Full Moon"

..No worries, I've already got the coat.

Surely that would be Eta Carinae: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EtaCarinae.jpg

Somewhat ironically for the AC @13:43, part of the nearby Keyhole nebula is known as the Finger of God :o

Hang on just one little min

Just because it is called eye of god does not necersarilly infer that the namee beleives in god.

It represents what that individual can represent an image in his mind !

If i tell you i met a man with glowing Red eyes would you not have a picture in your mind as to what the eyes look like. Regardless of the fact you beleive my fancifull tales of a friday night.

And anyway i think its ceiling Cats eye !

Ceiling cat is watching you Mas........

You non-deists preach tolerance the most loudly and yet are some of the least tolerant people I come across.

AC because I might be burned at the stake for disagreeing with non-religious nutters...

Sir Isaac Newton, possibly the greatest scientist of all time, was also one of the biggest religious maniacs of his day. Meanwhile, the worst mass murderers in history (Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao) were avowed humanists who denied the existence of god.

I'm not saying this to defend anyone's right to believe or not to believe anything, just that human behaviour is a lot more complex than some people on this thread seem to realise.

Paris, to try and distract some of you from your fulminations...

GROG!!!

That is all.

particularly tasty on a dual monitor setup

Before she have up on us as a bad job and went off to create the rest of the universe based on inorganic chemistry.

http://asymptotia.com/2006/11/02/gods-final-message/

But the first I heard about this was in the tabloid newspaper The Sun today. They excitedly stated that it would take light two and a half years to cross. And then when on to say that it could have whole galaxies in it.

Humm, me thinks that the Sun science editor (should such a post exist) would like to invest in an encyclopaedia that told them what the approximate diameter of a galaxy was. They may be rather surprised to find that it is a bit larger than 2.5 light years.

Mind you, it’s not as bad as the Pepsi re-brand that’s currently doing the rounds on the Internet. Search for Pepsi and breathtaking. They say that a light year is 671 million mile an hour.

As to jobs and who deserves them, I'll leave that to you.

Pad

It's full of stars!

Obviously no one has read "A Mote in God's Eye."

The godse?

Jesus Christ, that thing's huge!

on AOL have picked up on this.

"If a teacher tells my kids I came from a chimpanzee there'll be trouble" is not atypical.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/space/eyeofgod.asp

Not one photo but a composiye - with colours 'enhanced".

July 2006

I gather there are actually quite a few different body parts to be found in the realm of the nebulae, although not all are suitable as publicity pictures... if you catch my drift.

Not sure how many have been ascribed to God, though.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/godhands.asp

Heathens the lot of you. God is going to kick your arses straight to Hell.

HA HA HA :-)

I like the way the eye follows you around the universe - very clever that.

And to annoy all the people getting het up about it being the eye of god I'm claiming it's the eye of the dragon of eternity in Sinfest.