Cartwheel Galaxy/Vote

The folks at spacetelescope.org mislabeled a couple images, including the one that inspired this picture.  It was captioned Hourglass Nebula but is actually the Cartwheel Galaxy.  I wanted the 3-piece set to be all nebulae, but finished the painting before discovering the labeling error.  So, the set-name is hereby changed from 'nebulae' to 'heavenly bodies'.  Makes me wonder: if I googled 'heavenly bodies' would the majority of hits be cosmic or female human?  Although most of us naturally associate brushes with the application of paint to canvas, most of this painting was done with sponges.

Cartwheel is 500 million light years away from us, rather a long trip and not much to do when you get there.  Consider Hawaii instead.  At 150,000 light years in width, Cartwheel is slightly larger than the Milky Way; viewed from earth, it is part of the Sculptor constellation.  Scientists estimate that there are 100-500 billion galaxies, each containing 100 million to 100 trillion stars.  These statistics remind us of the unimaginable vastness of space, and of the insignificance of earth and its dominant species, the microscopic parasites that number in the billions, blissfully and obliviously breeding and polluting themselves into extinction.  Tsk, tsk, how morbid of me.

Cartwheel Galaxy

Acrylic on canvas.  16" x 20"

Final of 3-piece series

VOTE!  I'd appreciate reader feedback on which of the 3 heavenly paintings you like best - and why: color, composition, whatever.  Thanks!