Bad Astronomy

The Universe Around Your Neck

I have occasionally written about clothing based on astronomical images, and I have to say, Slow Factory knocked it out of the park with its line of spacey silk scarves. They took images from Hubble and WISE and created really beautiful stuff.

For example, I really like the Witch Head:

witch head scarf
El Amor Brujo.

Photo by Julia Robb for Slow Factory

The Witch Head nebula is actually a very large nebula in Orion, and the WISE image of it is a personal favorite of mine.

I’m also partial to the RS Puppis reflection nebula:

RS puppis scarf
This will keep polycyclic aromatic compounds off your neck.

Photo by Julia Robb for Slow Factory

I’ve been meaning to write about this nebula; it’s a cloud of gas and dust reflecting the light from the massive and luminous star RS Puppis. I actually have some notes on it sitting on my desktop. Maybe this’ll motivate me to actually write them up!

(Note: Since drafting this post, it looks like these two scarves are sold out! But they say they’re getting more, so patience, young padawan.)

The company has several other scarves for sale using space imagery, including some taken of Earth using the Terra satellite. These really are very cool, if a tad pricey. Of course, you can always make constellation scarves yourself if you want. Or find geeky patterns for other do-it-yourself crafts. Or, if you’re really minimalist, I have you covered there too.

But Slow Factory has its heart in the right place, and one of the reasons these scarves exist is due to the company owner being inspired by NASA. I’m all for that! And how can I not love a company that has this image on their site?

(Are rugs more your style, and you have a cool $2,190 knocking around with nothing to do? Try these nebula space carpets. Or buy yourself a really nice telescope and go look for yourself. Tip o’ the dew shield to the Scirens.)