Cosmos Gallery

Durers Celestial Globe, 1515

Durer's Celestial Globe, 1515. This shows the northern hemisphere, and was prepared in conjunction with the astronomer Stabius. Four astronomers are shown in the corners: Aratus Cilis; Ptolomaeus Aegyptius; Maniliusromanus; and Azophi Arabus (al Sufi). Albrecht Durer (1471- 1528) produced the first printed star charts in 1515. One chart, or planisphere, showed all the northern constellations; the other depicted the southern hemisphere. The positions of the stars were exactly fixed (according to Ptolemey's catalogue) and the figures were artistically portrayed, in a classical style. Durer also chose to illustrate the constellations that would appear on a globe as if seen from space. Taken from The Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Durer by Dr Willi Kurth (1936)

© SHEILA TERRY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Milky Way

Milky Way. Mosaic of photographs of the Milky Way, the spiral galaxy in which our solar system lies. Our Sun is believed to be around two-thirds of the way out from the centre in a small spiral arm. Galactic Centre lies at the centre of the image in the constellation Sagittarius. This is where the bulge of stars in the Milky Way is at its greatest, tapering away on either side. The image runs around the whole of the sky, so our view away from Galactic Centre is seen both at far left and at far right. Interstellar dust obscures much of the Galaxy's central axis. The Milky Way is thought to be about 120, 000 light years across and to contain over 100 billion stars

© ECKHARD SLAWIK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Space suits

Space suits hanging in a row from hooks. These space suits, known as Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs), have been designed for use during shuttle missions and allow the astronauts to spacewalk independently of the space craft. The suit consists of many components including a one- piece undergarment carrying cooling pipes, a semi- rigid upper torso section and a flexible lower torso/leg section. A helmet, gloves and Primary Life Support Subsystem (PLSS) can be fitted to the suit. These suits can be re-used, which was not the case for previous space suits

© SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY