Trilobites didn’t go extinct…

…they just evolved into beings of pure electromagnetism and infested the sun.

trilobyte_strip.jpg

I know that we humans are prone to finding familiar patterns in weird places, but I have to say I find the claimed resemblance less than compelling. When looking at the rather amorphous blob in the centre of the image above, I don’t really don’t see this:

Trilobite.jpg

Amorphous bug-like thing? Perhaps. Trilobite? No.
More annoying is the fact that the focus on fluff relegated to a footnote the somewhat more interesting point that the ‘trilobite’, which is actually a sunspot, formed in a way which hadn’t been observed before. I’m all for using striking pictures as a hook, but doesn’t removing the actual scientific content somewhat defeat the point?
(from science@nasa)

Categories: planets, public science

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