#fighting dragons of Ara

[without-ado]

We are truly children of the stars. —Brian Cox

l all taken by David Moulton

[quiltofstars]

The Fighting Dragons of Ara, NGC 6188 // Kongyangshik

See how they're guarding (or fighting over) the Dragon's Egg (NGC 6164, lower right)?

[mckitterick]

Fighting Dragons of Ara Nebula

by Russell Croman

known as the Dragon's Egg, the nebula's central star - a rare, hot, super-bright O-type star some 40 times more massive than our Sun - created the surrounding Fighting Dragons of Ara Nebula (NGC 6164)

the star is so hot that its ultraviolet light causes the 4-light-year-wide shroud of gas to glow like a giant cosmic blacklight

most objects like this are known as planetary nebulae because they look like disks in a telescope, formed when dying stars shed their outer layers, but the Fighting Dragons Nebula is unique: the central star is still in its prime

even so, in another 3-4 million years, the massive star's life will end fantastically in a supernova explosion

[the-wolf-and-moon]

NGC 6188, Fighting Dragons of Ara

[detailedart]

Colossal hands in space. 1. Pillars of creation ; 2. The Fighting Dragons of Ara. NASA.

[ehabdaguy]

NGC 6188, also known as the Fighting Dragons of Ara, easily the most badass name for an emission nebula that I have ever come across

[twoidiotwriters1]

The Curse of Oenone (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: The urge to use Imagine Dragons songs is coming back and I'm gonna let it win -Danny Words: 2,104 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter Listen to: 'End Of Beginning' -by Djo

XLVI: I Develop a Parasocial Relationship With the Voices

Ara gasps as her friends fall face-first into the room, she tries to run to their side with Hazel and Leo following. Then Clytius moves, standing in their way.

"Clytius, you've lost! Let them go, or you'll end up like Pasiphaë!" Hazel exclaims.

Annabeth sits up and talks in a voice that's definitely not hers. "I am not Pasiphaë. You have won nothing."

"Stop that!" Hazel gasps in fear.

"Not quite dead." Now is Percy talking with the giant's voice. "A terrible shock to the mortal body, I would imagine, coming back from Tartarus. They'll be out for a while. I'll tie them up and take them to Porphyrion in Athens. Just the sacrifice we need. Unfortunately, that means I have no further use for you three."

"Oh, yeah?" Leo scowls. "Well, maybe you got the smoke, buddy, but I've got the fire."

They realize his move is a mistake a little too late. Leo bends over in pain as dark smoke encircles his body and forces him to his knees. "No!" Hazel tries to get closer but then Leo starts talking for Clytius.

"I would not. You do not understand, Hazel Levesque. I devour magic. I destroy the voice and the soul. You cannot oppose me."

The black fog covering Leo spreads across the room and Ara hears a buzzing ahead, the Doors of Death are fighting against their enclosure. "Hazel," Ara says tensely, nodding at the doors and reaching for her Octopi to rummage through it for the right bomb to throw.

"F-fire," Hazel stammers, trying to distract their opponent. "You're supposed to be weak against it."

"You were counting on that, eh? It is true I do not like fire. But Leo Valdez's flames are not strong enough to trouble me." Annabeth responds.

"What about my flames, old friend?" Hecate speaks behind them.

The giant tenses, his anger is palpable when he talks through Percy. "You."

"Me. It has been millennia since I fought at the side of a demigod, but Hazel Levesque has proven herself worthy. What do you say, Clytius? Shall we play with fire?" The goddess asks, lifting her torches.

"Bold words." Clytius continues, the fog getting thicker. "You forget, goddess. When we last met, you had the help of Hercules and Dionysus—the most powerful heroes in the world, both of them destined to become gods. Now you bring... these?"

Leo winces and curls on the floor, Ara's heart leaps at the sight. He's not dying today, she'll make sure of it. The girl turns Almighty back into a sword and stands tall, her cloak moves behind her covered in dirt and stinking like the Underworld, but showing all of her seven blessings.

"Hazel," she speaks lowly, "bring them back to us."

"On it, Strategus," Hazel stretches out her palms, and somehow, the girl transports Leo, Percy, and Annabeth to their side of the room.

Hecate smiles faintly. "You're right, Clytius. Hazel Levesque and Arae Jackson are not Hercules or Dionysus, but I think you will find them just as formidable."

"What's going on?" Leo coughs out, coming back to his senses. "What can I—"

"Watch Percy and Annabeth." Hazel orders. "Stay behind us. Stay in the Mist."

"But—" Hazel glares at him and Leo shrinks in his place. "Yeah, got it. White Mist good. Black smoke bad."

Ara tosses her Octopi bag at him and he barely catches it. "Help Percy and Annabeth."

"Formidable?" The giant's voice sounds all around them. "Because the girl has learned your magic tricks, Hecate? Because you allow these weaklings to hide in your Mist? Arae Jackson... She's just a puppet of the gods."

Ara's ancestry has nothing to do with blood or place of birth, it's who came before her, who stood where she stands, and who got her to this point. The lessons her friends and the sons of Olympus gave her are what she's valuing in herself from now on.

Clytius makes a sword appear in his hand, made of stygian iron like Nico's. "I do not understand why Gaea would find any of these demigods worthy of sacrifice. I will crush them like empty nutshells."

Hazel screams and thousands of precious stones hit the giant like bullets. Ara runs forward, dodges the bad guy, and slashes the chains on each side of the elevator's doors.

"No!" The voice bounces off the walls. "You worthless—"

"Worthless?" Hecate hums. "I'd say Hazel and Arae know a few tricks even I could not teach them."

"So, daughter of Pluto, do you really believe Hecate has your interests at heart? Circe was a favorite of hers. And Medea. And Pasiphaë. How did they end up, eh?"

Clytius is trying the classic brainwashing move. The problem is Hazel and Ara have had enough encounters with manipulative jerks by now that they're immune to this tactic.

"Hecate will not tell you the truth. She sends acolytes like you to do her bidding and take all the risk. If by some miracle you incapacitate me, only then will she be able to set me on fire. Then she will claim the glory of the kill. You saw how Bacchus dealt with the Alodai twins in the Colosseum. Hecate is worse. She is a Titan who betrayed the Titans. Then she betrayed the gods. Do you really think she will keep faith with you?"

"I cannot answer his accusations, Hazel," says the woman. "This is your crossroads. You must choose."

"Yes, crossroads." The giant's laughter echoes. "Hecate offers you obscurity, choices, vague promises of magic. I am the anti-Hecate. I will give you truth. I will eliminate choices and magic. I will strip away the Mist, once and for all, and show you the world in all its true horror."

"You give no hope for a better outcome, and I already have too much of that crap in me," Ara expands her shield and Almighty turns into a javelin. "The Doors of Death are gone, so I have no reason to waste more of my time here."

"You can't seriously believe you have the strength," Clytius sneers. "What will you do, pelt me with more rubies? You'll bury me under a pile of compliments, daughter of love?"

Hazel and Ara share a look. Men. Then they charge. Ara gets his rear while Hazel strikes his front, the giant's unsure of who to attack first, and Ara forgets about being calculating and sneaky. He'd said that he fed on magic, voices, and soul, then Ara would use none of that, and he won't be able to stall her.

She makes use of nothing but fast and easy brute force. No blessings, he could absorb them and she won't risk losing that advantage. It's her, Almighty, and Hazel. Oh! And her flintlock. She shoots unsure of his weak point, if he has any, but she's trying hard to find it.

Clytius fights with wild rage, and before she can help it, he hits Hazel. The girl rolls away, clutching her ribs. "It's over, child of Olympus. Without your blessings, you alone cannot weaken me, and if you use them, I'll drain you out."

"Alone?" She turns her weapon back into a sword. "I've got Achilles and Hercules in Almighty, I carry Olympus on my back, and as the General of all armies, Clytius, I will personally kill you in the name of all demigods, Greek and Roman."

The air in the room shifts, Ara looks over her shoulder and spots a new group of people stepping into the scene through a newly made door: Frank, Nico, Piper, and Jason all ready to help.

"Sorry we're late," Jason speaks. "Is this the guy who needs killing?"

Ara laughs—one of her loud and melodic ones. "Took you long enough!"

When they move, Leo joins the fight without asking for permission. Ara panics for a moment, thinking it might be dangerous, and then scolds herself. She doesn't want to see him as a weakness anymore.

Nico's Stygian sword seems to suck in the fog that comes out of Clytius, and Ara remembers Lily's weapon and turns to Percy and Annabeth. "Lily's dagger!" She calls urgently.

Both teens are standing, though they're barely able to. Annabeth unsheaths the blade and slides it across the floor. Ara stops it with her foot and picks it up. Almighty and her shield shrink, the first to become a dagger and the other back into a hair-tie around her wrist.

Her hands have equal-sized weapons, and Ara feels ready to end this. It's a little hard to get back in without getting hurt on accident, but she manages to. "Leo, Jason! I need a grenade and a lift—in that order!"

Leo pulls out two grenades of Greek fire. He tosses one to the giant's face and temporarily blinds him as when Clytius eats it, and then he dumps the second into his breastplate. "Duck!" He screams.

Everyone drops and covers their heads as Clytius's armor blasts into pieces. Jason lifts Ara off the ground several feet up and throws her on top of the dazzled giant. The girl slashes his chest with Almighty first, then just as quickly she sinks Lily's dagger deep into the wound, absorbing the giant's energy.

"Good luck draining this," she mutters.

Clytius faints and Ara slips off, yanking the stygian dagger out in the process. The rest of her friends gather around her, and Hecate steps forward. "And so it ends," she says.

"It does not end." Clytius's words are slurring. "My brethren have risen. Gaea waits only for the blood of Olympus. It took all of you together to defeat me. What will you do when the Earth Mother opens her eyes?"

Hecate doesn't dignify that question with an answer, she just stuffs her torches in the giant's head, igniting his body so quickly that Ara doesn't even get to feel grossed out.

Hazel breathes in harshly and Ara snaps out of her murderous fit. "Broken rib," Ara says with concern. "We have to get you out of here."

"Yes, you should go now, Hazel Levesque. Lead your friends out of this place." Hecate tells her.

"Just like that? No 'thank you'? No 'good work'?" Hazel asks through gritted teeth while Ara helps her up.

"Let it go, Haze," Ara whispers.

"You look in the wrong place for gratitude," the goddess replies. "As for 'good work,' that remains to be seen. Speed your way to Athens. Clytius was not wrong. The giants have risen—all of them, stronger than ever. Gaea is on the very edge of waking. The Feast of Hope will be poorly named unless you arrive to stop her."

"We will stop them," Ara responds. "I've got a good crew."

There is a shadow of a smile when the woman talks to her. "Well, you are the voice of all demigods, so I shall trust your judgment." The ceiling starts crumbling and Hecate tenses. "The House of Hades is unstable. Leave now. We shall meet again." And just like that, she's gone.

"Never expect gratitude," Ara talks while Nico approaches and takes Hazel from her. "You can't control their sentiment, but you can rely on binding rules. Hecate will keep an eye on you now because you're her servant, that might save you one day."

Hazel looks up at her with soft eyes and takes a shaky breath. "Thank you."

Ara smiles. "It's my job."

"Birdy got taller?" Percy's hoarse voice catches their attention.

"Dude." Jason reaches Percy and wraps his arms around him in a crushing hug.

"Back from Tartarus!" Leo howls and whistles. "That's my peeps!"

Piper hugs Annabeth and cries, Frank goes to Hazel and takes her from Nico. Nico reaches Ara and offers to shake her hand. "Well done, Birdy. I told you the cloak would help."

She stares at his hand and then at his face. "I'm so sorry for what I'll do, please don't stab me." Ara wraps her arms around him and takes a deep breath of relief. Nico tenses for about five seconds, then stiffly and lightly pats her back.

"Thank you," she sniffs. "Without you, I wouldn't've gotten my brother back. Thank you, Nico."

"I promised I would," he responds curtly.

"Birdy?" The girl looks towards the voice calling her: Percy's clothes are torn, he looks sickly, and his eyes are bloodshot... but his gaze is soft and full of relief.

"Brother," she chokes out.

Ara rushes to them and pulls him and Annabeth into a hug that feels like heaven after a month of literal hell. The girl sobs as she squeezes them tightly against her, and uses her empath touch to absorb their ailings.

She kisses his brother's cheek and Annabeth's forehead, not needing to stand on her toes to do any of those since she's almost as tall as Annabeth. "I'm so sorry—"

"I'm not," Annabeth cries tears of joy. "But I'm sorry your T-Rex wasn't as lucky as us... it burned to death."

Ara laughs tearily and shakes her head. "I don't care—I've got my family back."

Next Chapter –>

Taglist.

@siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @asnyox-the-hoarder @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen @orbitingpolaris @obxstiles @ellipsisspelled @thepixiechicksh @ebony-reine-vibes

[apod]

2022 December 26

NGC 6164: Dragon's Egg Nebula and Halo Image Credit & Copyright: Russell Croman

Explanation: The star at the center created everything. Known as the Dragon's Egg, this star -- a rare, hot, luminous O-type star some 40 times as massive as the Sun -- created not only the complex nebula (NGC 6164) that immediately surrounds it, but also the encompassing blue halo. Its name is derived, in part, from the region's proximity to the picturesque NGC 6188, known as the fighting Dragons of Ara. In another three to four million years the massive star will likely end its life in a supernova explosion. Spanning around 4 light-years, the nebula itself has a bipolar symmetry making it similar in appearance to more common planetary nebulae - the gaseous shrouds surrounding dying sun-like stars. Also like many planetary nebulae, NGC 6164 has been found to have an extensive, faint halo, revealed in blue in this deep telescopic image of the region. Expanding into the surrounding interstellar medium, the material in the blue halo was likely expelled from an earlier active phase of the O-star. NGC 6164 lies 4,200 light-years away in the southern constellation of the Carpenter's Square (Norma).

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221226.html

[caemthe]

@holyrisen said.º

" ara, well hello there. " the cloaked figure greets patroclus with a gracious smile. his smile is present, yet there is no .... light behind it. an eerieness to his face; to his person. yet ever so familiar. upon closer inspection .... it can be shown that they looked almost alike to crimson. perhaps .... too alike. " pardon me, but i'm afraid i'm a little lost right. do you think you could help me with some directions ? " / pat meeting amok ........... yikes

The atmosphere turned somber and chilling before the figure with a sinister air entered his field of vision and approached him. Despite working for the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs for around a decade now, Patroclus had only been in a situation like this a few times. The type in which his body tensed on its own and the instinct to fight or flight made itself known. So everything moved a little slower, the air felt a little colder, colors felt a little more vibrant, and he could hear his own heartbeat in his ears. It was jarring to feel this way outside a mission, when he had no reason to fear for his life. But Patroclus didn't show any of that. Instead, he simply offered the gentle and charming smile he showed everyone.

"I'm not that familiar with this area of the town, but I hope I can be of help. Where do you wish to go?" He couldn't see their face very well due to the cloak but, once he finally caught a glimpse, confusion was added to the cocktail of jarring sensations he was experiencing right then. Someone who looked just like Crimson but wrong. Truth to be told, he would've preferred it if he had been approached by a doppelgänger or fell for a trap of that type. But this person emanated the same (but different, just plain wrong) magical energy as the red dragon. That couldn't be good. "Not good with reading maps, I assume? I get it, Google Maps can be a pain to deal with at times."

[f4nd0m-fun]

So Pokemon Power (in progress name) starts the player off at a ranch, where they live with their father and siblings. Your twin is the character you didn't choose.

Instead of getting Fire, Grass, or Water as your starter, your father gives you a Rock/Dragon, Flying/Dragon, or Fighting/Dragon to start your journey. And your twin, of course, is late, so you get to pick first. When they do pick, it's a random one based on what's left.

Your mom, meanwhile, is the champion of the region, so you almost never see her, but the money she makes as champion helps cover a fair amount of the ranch expenses.

Also, I'm going to have a ditto that likes hide and seek and will disguise itself as a random Pokemon on the ranch if you interact with it. Not sure if it's just a fun side game or if you actually get anything from it, though maybe your dad tasks you with finding this thing.

Below are the ranch images.

I've got a small chicken coop

A barn

And its interior

A small field

Dad's truck

Lil island

A nice house (and Charles, your annoying older brother)

Tons of animals

Like dogs to herd the sheep

Or a random ponyta that got loose

Also, gates are annoying to work with, I eventually just made a 'door' sprite for em

I still need to figure out what to plant in the fields too but this thing is really coming together.

[without-ado]

Fighting Dragons of Ara & their egg l Aleix Roig

[quiltofstars]

One of the Fighting Dragons of Ara, NGC 6188 // Giovanni Fiume

[projectourworld]

Dragons Egg.

Some 3,800 light-years away from Earth, in the Southern Hemisphere constellation Norma, lies a massive cloud of gas and dust. Nicknamed the “Dragon’s Egg” nebula for its proximity to the Fighting Dragons of Ara nebula complex, this mysterious cosmic structure has baffled astronomers. Now, researchers have discovered new evidence to support the idea that the breathtaking purple, pink and orange orb was born from a violent past.

Courtesy Smithsonian Magazine #dragons #egg

[warningsine]

https://www.reuters.com/science/astronomers-unravel-mystery-dragons-egg-nebula-2024-04-11/

Astronomers unravel the mystery of the 'Dragon's Egg' nebula

The nebula NGC 6164/6165, also known as the Dragon's Egg, a cloud of gas and dust surrounding a pair of stars called HD 148937, is seen in this undated handout image taken with the VLT Survey Telescope hosted at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory in Cerro Paranal, Chile.

WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) - Two large stars residing inside a spectacular cloud of gas and dust nicknamed the "Dragon's Egg" nebula have presented a puzzle to astronomers. One of them has a magnetic field, as does our sun. Its companion does not. And such massive stars are not usually associated with nebulae.

Researchers now appear to have resolved this mystery while also explaining how the relatively few massive stars that are magnetic got that way. Blame it on stellar fratricide, they said. In this case, the bigger star apparently gobbled up a smaller sibling star, and the mixing of their stellar material during this hostile takeover created a magnetic field.

"This merger was likely very violent. When two stars merge, material can be thrown out, and this likely created the nebula we see today," said Chile-based European Southern Observatory astronomer Abigail Frost, lead author of the study published on Thursday in the journal Science.

Computer simulations previously had predicted that the blending of stellar material during such a merger could create a magnetic field in the combined star born in this process.

"Our study is the observational smoking gun confirming this scenario," said astronomer Hugues Sana of KU Leuven in Belgium, the study's senior author.

These two stars - gravitationally bound to each other in what is called a binary system - are located in our Milky Way galaxy about 3,700 light-years from Earth in the constellation Norma. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

The researchers used nine years of observations by the Chile-based Very Large Telescope.

The magnetic star is about 30 times more massive than the sun. Its remaining companion is about 26.5 times more massive than the sun. They orbit at a distance from each other varying from seven to 60 times the distance between Earth and the sun.

The Dragon's Egg is so named because it is located relatively near a larger nebula complex called the Fighting Dragons of Ara. The stars inside the Dragon's Egg appear to have started out 4-6 million years ago as a triple system - three stars born at the same time and gravitationally bound.

The triple system's two innermost members included a larger star - perhaps 25 to 30 times the mass of the sun - and a smaller one - maybe five to 10 times the sun's mass.

The more massive one evolved more quickly than the other, with its outer layer engulfing the smaller star and triggering a merger that ejected into space the gas and dust that make up the nebula, the researchers said.

This occurred very recently in a cosmic time scale - about 7,500 years ago, based on the expansion velocity of the material in the nebula. It consists of mostly hydrogen and helium, but also an unusually large amount of nitrogen, thanks to the merger.

Many sun-sized stars generate magnetic fields.

"For low-mass stars like our sun, convective heating - like the movement of hot water in a radiator in your home - creates a movement of stellar material. This in turn creates a dynamo effect which induces a magnetic field," Frost said.

"However, for massive stars - greater than eight times the mass of our sun - different heating effects are in play, and so explaining the presence of magnetic fields for these types of stars is more tricky. This merger scenario ticks all the boxes," Frost added.

About 7% of massive stars are known to have a magnetic field. The second star in this binary system, uninvolved in the violent merger, does not.

Stellar magnetic fields store immense amounts of energy. The sun's magnetic storms can interact with Earth's atmosphere and create our planet's thrilling auroras, but also can disrupt radio signals and navigation systems.

An image of the nebula released with the study is visually striking.

"The richness of the physics and chemistry at play gave rise to a beautiful structure," Sana said.

[oc-menagerie]

Roleplay Starter Call for Ordessia!

Ordessia is Ourania's mother, a noble silver dragon warrior who is just as aggressive in a fight as her daughter. She loves a good fight, a good drink, and a strong opponent (especially if they're attractive). She finds humans interesting and tends to hang out where they mostly gather to try to find some to fight and flirt with.

Like or reblog to be tagged with this Ara Ara of a mom, Ordessia the dragon!

[mahvaladara]

Fannar: You knew all you had to do was ask right? I'd share my heart with you, and none of this would have been needed. Also your brother is an ass.

They were still much calmer than they thought they would be. They had no real idea why, their biggest worry was still with their family, what had happened to them after they were taken, their siblings, their twin.

Arlo: Oh cool! Then please give me your heart! I am sure all other dragons will be willing to do the same! -Arlo said with uncharacteristic enthusiasm.

Then he frowned and actually kicked the bars of Fannar’s cell. And wrapping his hands around Fannar's neck he shoved them crudely to the floor, choking the dragon. His Eye was threatening to come out of his throat as it was puzzled with the sheer love for destruction but also torn in wanting to protect the young dragon they loved. But he needed to do this. He needed Fannar to hate him in the worst way possible, because only then would it work. Only then could he do it right.

Lie to a truthful heart. Aras greatest lie, wasn’t making Khal’Itir believe he loved them, it was making himself believe he didn’t.

Arlo: That's not how it works, dragon! My brother isn’t the only problem! Others will hunt! I need to be able to replicate this in all dragons. Take a heart from a dragon without killing the dragon nor the heart! I need a lie! I need hatred. I need destruction for this to work. I need to hurt you! -and he gripped harder, just grinning. He hated this, but that part of him, that Paradox, also loved this. To see life so fleeting depending on him, on his volatile mood. How measly and meaningless such a proud and powerful creature became under his grasp-

They couldn't win this apparently, and one thing he had been told by his grandparents was to choose their battles. This was not the one, he could feel conflict in Arlo, and it seemed regardless of what he did, or what his answer was, it was wrong.

Fannar: Do as you wish.

They didn't fight when Arlo started strangling them, they just closed their eyes and refused to answer him anymore, willing their body to stay still, even when they were fighting for breath, reminding himself to thank his dad for the many hours of focusing on relaxing together. He could feel how his consciousness was fading, almost welcoming it.

Arlo scoffed and lightened his grip, releasing Fannar before he could lose consciousness. He got up, as he watched the dragon cough and struggle to recover their breath.