Bursting the bubble

Just a wonderful picture!  I'm feeling a bit like this at the moment too - missing the company of a couple of dear friends - but taking solice in the splendour of the physics and photography.

All credit to Richard Heeks, from Exeter, UK, for such artistry in science - and patience.  Isn't it amazing how the bubble turns into filaments like that? Follow this link to find some other photos in the series.

The part of the bubble on the left doesn't yet know that the other side has gone.  This is a great analogy for the travel of light through the universe.  When we see a distant object we have to remember that it might not be there any longer. 

I love to use analogies to explain science to the general public and make them realise how much they do know already.  I believe that the most brilliant scientists of 200 years ago would have given an arm and a leg to know as much as the most unscientific person today. 

And yet these treasures of knowledge are dismissed all too easily by those who just consume technology with no understanding.  The beauty of the bursting bubble is lost on most people.