Entry for the Challenge Arena, the July-August theme is "Chaos". A window into time itself would reach back to that first blazing moment, the exhilarating onrush before stars settled into ordered patterns and man measured the distances and gave everything a number. We build and send cameras to probe the sun's field and telescopes to gather the light of stars. Unblinking. Patient. Programmed. Will we someday stare directly into the heart of chaos, or will we always require some sort of lens... aid and barrier belike? Thanks to NASA and Hubble for the original photographs of nebulae. They have been layered and tweaked and stomped and tweaked again. (I think there is a little of the Tarantula Nebula in all of the layers, but Rosette and Lagoon and Crab contributed more than a few stars.) Quilters might recognize the "blazing star" pattern. It seemed appropriate. ;^) If you really like this image, I've put it on tote-bags and t-shirts and ceramic tiles, and on BBQ aprons for backyard blazing stars! http://www.cafepress.com/hauksdottir/4066360