why we do it

john posted a nice hst image he made below - showing off some nice cluster lensing effects. we're lucky in this job to be able to create pretty stunning images. yesterday's apod was a classic - the merging nuclei of the antennea galaxies. it's just an amazing image - only what you can't see in this zoomed version is the long tidal tails stretching back way out into space - pulled apart from the tidal interaction. i can't imagine not wanting to know how this stuff works: