Astrophysics Collection (page 2)

James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist
James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), Scottish physicist. Maxwells works cover a wide area of science, and he is regarded as one of the finest minds of the 19th century

Orion nebula (M42 and M43)
Orion nebula. Hubble Space Telescope mosaic of the Orion nebula (M42; NGC 1976), which is 1500 light years away in the constellation Orion

Milky way galaxy, artwork
Milky Way galaxy. Computer artwork of the Milky Way galaxy, which contains our solar system. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy. It has a nucleus (yellow) of old stars at its centre

Aurora borealis and Moon over mountains and trees by a river. This coloured light display (the northern lights) is visible in the night sky at high latitudes

Spiral galaxy M81, composite image. M81 is around 12 million light years from Earth, in the constellation of Ursa Major. It has a supermassive black hole at its centre

Kitt Peak Observatory and Milky Way
Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, Arizona, USA, and the Milky Way. With 23 telescopes, this is the largest collection of astronomical instruments in the world

Universe timeline, artwork
Big Bang and Evolution of Galaxies - The observable Universe is about 84 billion light years across. According to the standard view of cosmolog

Universe timeline, artwork
Big Bang and Evolution of Galaxies - The observable Universe is about 84 billion light years across. According to the standard view of cosmolog

Albert Einstein, artwork
Albert Einstein. Cartoon of the Swiss-German physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955). Einstein is best known for his paper on the special theory of relativity

Kepler Mission space telescope, artwork. The NASA Kepler Mission is designed to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars

Mauna Kea telescopes and Milky Way. Silhouetted against a sunset glow are the Subaru Telescope (far left), the Keck I and II telescopes (centre left and centre)

Orbit of Sputnik 1, Soviet 1957 diagram
Orbit of Sputnik 1. Diagram showing the Earth orbits possible for different spacecrafts. Sputnik 1, the first spacecraft ever to reach Earth orbit, was launched on 4 October 1957 by the Soviet Union

Solar prominence, ultraviolet SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) satellite image. The prominence (top right), is a dense cloud of plasma, or ionised gas

Helix nebula, planetary nebula
Helix nebula (NGC 7293), optical image. This is a planetary nebula, a series of shells of gas cast off from a Sun-like star towards the end of its life

Halleys Comet, 1910
Halleys Comet. Halleys Comet orbits the Sun every 76 years. This periodicity was discovered by Edmund Halley (1654-1742), after whom the comet is named

Underside of Arecibo radio telescope
Arecibo radio observatory. View of the underside of the dish antenna of the Arecibo radio telescope, the worlds largest. Built into a volcanic crater in Puerto Rico, Arecibos dish is made of 38

Solar prominence. SOHO image of a huge prominence in the corona of the Sun. The prominence is a massive cloud of plasma confined by powerful magnetic fields

Helix nebula, HST image
Helix Nebula. Hubble Space Telescope image of the Helix planetary nebula (NGC 7293). This comprises shells of gas cast off a Sun-like star near the end of its life

Transit of Venus, 8th June 2004
Transit of Venus. Composite image of Venus (black transiting the Sun on 8th June 2004. The images were taken from Waldenburg, Germany)

Alexander Friedman, Soviet cosmologist
Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman (1888-1925), Russian and Soviet cosmologist and mathematician. Friedman, who lived and worked in Leningrad, is considered the founder of modern cosmology

Lovell radio telescope. This large radio telescope dish is located at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, UK. It has a diameter of 76 metres

Milky Way over Scottish loch
Milky Way, over Clatteringshaws Loch, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The Milky Way, our galaxy seen from the inside, is the band of stars, nebulae and dust lanes running vertically across the sky

Red dwarf star. Artwork representing the intense activity of a red dwarf star. These are among the least massive stars in the universe ranging from 0.1 to 0.7 solar masses

Dark matter distribution. Supercomputer simulation of the distribution of dark matter in the local universe. Dark matter is a form of matter that cannot be detected by telescopes as it emits no

Kepler-10b exoplanet, artwork
January 10, 2011 WASHINGTON -- NASAs Kepler mission confirmed the discovery of its first rocky planet, named Kepler-10b. Measuring 1.4 times the size of Earth

Open star cluster NGC 3603, HST image. The stars seen here are young stars, heating the gas and dust of the nebulae around them

Time warp, conceptual image. Composite artwork of a clock being sucked into a wormhole

Whirlpool Galaxy (M51, NGC 5194), visible light image. The Whirlpool galaxy is locked in a gravitational interaction with the smaller irregular galaxy NGC 5195 (left of M51)

Large Magellanic cloud
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), infrared image. The LMC is a dwarf galaxy, and a satellite of our own Milky Way galaxy. It contains regions of emission nebula (green, yellow and red)

Arecibo message and decoded key C016 / 6817
Arecibo message and decoded key. Diagram showing the binary transmission (left) known as the Arecibo message, with the message decoded and labelled at centre and right

Comet Hale-Bopp 1997 C011 / 1167
In March 1997 comet Hale-Bopp appeared in the north-eastern morning sky and in April in the north-western evening sky to be seen all the night

Albert Einstein, caricature
Albert Einstein. Caricature of the Swiss-German physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955). Einstein received the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for work on the photoelectric effect

Einstein and Eddington, 1930
Einstein and Eddington. German-born physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955), at left, was famous for his theories of relativity

Artists concept illustrating the two Saturn-sized planets discovered by the Kepler
This artistas concept illustrates the two Saturn-sized planets discovered by the Kepler mission. The star system is oriented edge-on, as seen by Kepler, such that both planets cross in front

Voyager probe trajectory, artwork C018 / 0285
Voyager probe trajectory, artwork. Artwork of the trajectory of one of the Voyager probes as it travels out of the solar system

Alpha Centauri binary stars and planets. Artwork from above the surface of one of the moons of one of the planets in the Alpha Centauri binary star system

M9 globular cluster, HST image
M9 globular cluster, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image. Combined optical and infrared image of the Messier 9 (M9) globular star cluster

Kepler-22b, artwork C013 / 9945
Kepler-22b. Computer artwork of the extrasolar planet Kepler-22b. Kepler-22b is about 2.5 times the size of Earth and orbits the G-type star Kepler-22 around 600 light years from Earth

ISS and the Moon C013 / 5148
ISS and the Moon. The International Space Station (ISS, upper left) is orbiting the Earth here at an altitude of around 390 kilometres

Planets internal structures, and Pluto, computer artwork. Mercury, Mars and Venus consist of a large iron core (spherical), surrounded by a thick silicate mantle (yellow) covered in a surface crust

Infinity symbol and black hole
Black hole, abstract computer artwork. Matter is spiralling into the black hole, dragged by the immense gravitational forces. This causes the matter to give off high-energy X-rays

James Van Allen, US astrophysicist
James Van Allen (1914-2006), US astrophysicist, holding a model of the rocket launcher Juno 1 with the satellite Explorer 1 on the nose cone

Oscillating universe theory, artwork. Also called cyclic models, these theories of the origin and nature of the universe postulate that following the Big Bang there is enough mass to reverse

Aurora borealis over trees by a river. This coloured light display (the northern lights) is visible in the night sky at high latitudes

The Pinwheel Cluster and Starfish Cluster in the constellation Auriga
The Pinwheel Cluster (left), and the Starfish Cluster (right), in the constellation Auriga. The area is surrounded by a nebulosity including NGC 1931 (bottom center), IC 417 (right center)

Barred spiral galaxy Messier 83
The vibrant magentas and blues in this Hubble image of the barred spiral galaxy M83 reveal that the galaxy is ablaze with star formation

Star formation in the Tarantula Nebula
This Hubble Space Telescope mosaic, spanning a width of 600 light-years, shows a star factory of more the 800, 000 stars being born

Zeta Ophiuchi bow shock, infrared image C016 / 9726
Zeta Ophiuchi bow shock. Infrared image from NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) of the bow shock in the interstellar medium caused by stellar winds from the fast-moving star Zeta Ophiuchi

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Astrophysics, the captivating realm where science and wonder intertwine, unveils the secrets of our vast universe. From the iconic "Pale Blue Dot" image captured by Voyager 1 to the mesmerizing Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2012 photograph, astrophysics continues to expand our cosmic understanding. In 1919, during a solar eclipse, Sir Arthur Eddington's groundbreaking experiment confirmed Einstein's theory of general relativity. This pivotal moment paved the way for further astronomical breakthroughs. Gazing at Orion's Belt in awe, we are reminded of its celestial beauty and significance within our night sky. The Hubble Ultra Deep Field galaxies capture our imagination as they reveal countless distant galaxies scattered across space-time. The MAP microwave background survey provided us with an unprecedented glimpse into the early universe, uncovering ancient patterns imprinted on cosmic radiation. Meanwhile, the ethereal glow of the Orion Nebula showcases stellar birth in all its splendor. Amongst these wonders lies one of nature's most breathtaking creations: The Pillars of Creation. These colossal gas and dust structures within M16 remind us that even amidst chaos, beauty emerges. Delving deeper into nebulae like Sh 2-106 through stunning images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope leaves us awestruck by their intricate formations and vibrant colors. Witnessing gas pillars in the Eagle Nebula evokes a sense of both fragility and resilience found throughout space. Revisiting history once more brings us back to that transformative moment during a solar eclipse in 1919 when scientific theories were validated against nature itself. It was then that humanity took another step towards unraveling universal mysteries. Lastly, we encounter the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), an echo from nearly fourteen billion years ago when light first permeated our expanding cosmos after the Big Bang. This faint radiation holds vital clues about our origins and paints a vivid picture of how everything began.