Twins

Tadpole Galaxy (US Hurrwarn/NOAA) / Hurricane Karl (NASA)

The resemblance between the shapes of 'ordinary' spiral galaxies and hurricanes was noted long ago, but the idea got no further, spirals are not remarkable enough.

However, a strange-looking hurricane in the Caribbean on 26 September 2002 is less easy to dismiss as accident. How did the mis-shapen hurricane 'Karl' come to bear such a strong likeness to the equally deviant 'Tadpole Galaxy'? Pure coincidence or a shared formative process?