The Photons Came Down the Chimney With Care

This day of the year is a funny one; people who write for a living try mightily to tie their particular field to the holidays. For an astronomy and scifi nerd, it's relatively easy, whether it's a Star Wars tree topper or an asteroid named Santa. Finding a little Christmas connection isn't so much a chore. I was going through my emails to look over topics I could write about (and reply to a few queries I'd let sit for far too long) when I found the above image of the galaxy NGC 918, taken by my ...