Mental Alchemy
Sphenodiscus lenticularis, Fox Hills Formation, South Dakota. Late Cretaceous (~ 70 mya). Both sides of this handsome specimen display the extraordinarily intricate suture patterns that are characteristic of this species. Also evident is part of the beautifully iridescent nacreous layer. A laterally flattened ammonite, this animal is thought to have been a relatively fast swimmer.
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The Butterfly Nebula - NGC 6302 (also called the Bug Nebula, Butterfly Nebula, or Caldwell 69) is a bipolar planetary nebula in the constellation Scorpius. The structure in the nebula is among the most complex ever observed in planetary nebulae. The spectrum of NGC 6302 shows that its central star is one of the hottest stars in the galaxy, with a surface temperature in excess of 200,000 K, implying that the star from which it formed must have been very