Stars of the show: Celebrating the beauty of the night sky
The night sky has been inspiring artists for centuries. Now scientists are celebrating its beauty. Tim Walker discovers how they captured the magic of the heavens
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.As long ago as 1054 AD, Chinese and Arabic astronomers looked up to see an unfamiliar star exploding in the constellation of Taurus, 6,000 light years from Earth. Without telescopes, the scientists tracked the star's progress and recorded their findings with great accuracy. Almost a millennium later, that blooming supernova, the Crab Nebula, is still exploding. Photographed by Nasa in 2001, the dying star does indeed resemble some mysterious sea creature.
The image appears in a new exhibition of stunning astrophotography organised by the Science Photo Library (SPL), as part of 2009's International Year of Astronomy, From Earth to the Universe – which opens at the Albert Dock in Liverpool on Saturday. Next year, the organisers hope, the images will be displayed in public spaces around the world.
"The pictures were primarily chosen for their aesthetic appeal," explains the curator, Gary Evans. "But we also chose things with a scientific story to tell. If people say, 'Wow, that's cool,' we've done our job. If they say 'Wow, I wonder what it is?' then that's even better."
A variety of techniques produced the images. A composite image of Earth was generated with satellite data, merging images of surface cover, cloud cover and city lights to create a striking "blue marble" portrait.
One image from the Hubble telescope, says Evans, was taken the last time a new camera was fitted. Scientists trained the lens on an area of sky with the least stars foregrounded to look far into deep space. They exposed a single frame for almost 12 days and found objects as far as 13 billion light years away.
Not all the exhibition photos boast such a sophisticated genesis, however. One time-lapse shot, tracking the movement of Venus across the Sun, was taken by Eckhard Slawik in Waldenburg, Germany, using little more than a home telescope and a digital camera.
To purchase copies of any of the exhibition images go to www.sciencephoto.com
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments