18. Blowing the Dust Off a Spiral Galaxy

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2012/12/01/nearby_spiral_galaxy_seen_in_the_infrared_by_spitzer_space_telescope.html

Phil Plait, an astronomer, writes an article on December 1st talking about his "old friend" and how the space-based Spitzer Space Telescope took amazing pictures that he has never seen before. He begins his article talking about the different wave lengths and light waves that each pigment had from each other. He uses images to explain what is happening to them and how that explains how this is a very in trusting picture even for him; who has seen so many. Plait also tells us that is you look closely to the image, you can see that it is a little down, which makes him wonder what happened to it, but n one really knows. Because of this, he has a a whole new set of questions, "Which is awesome."

In his astronomical article, astronomical uses many rhetorical devices. He begins his article by explaining what "old friend" mean to him. He uses strong diction when he explains how the Splitzer Telescope has shown him a new image and has made him come up with even more questions about them, because of the placement of the wavelengths. He uses the images, to show his audience, not only what he is talking about, but also that they can see though his eyes. In this article Plait uses words such as; "breathtaking," "lovely," "interesting," etc; to show how these are very important factors, especially in his life. By saying, "The spiral arms are still there, but now you can see the pink glow of gas clouds, and the blue of hot, young, massive stars blasting light into space," Plait shows his enthusiastic feelings towards astronomy and how psyched he is to have come up with many new questions about it.