Astronomical Images

"The Beauty of the Heavens" is sometimes more than just a figure of speech. In some (unfortunately rare) cases, the sophisticated instrumentation used by astronomers for their research actually delivers beautiful images. This consideration is not meant to reinforce the prejudice once formulated (and then variously refined) by a friend of mine more or less as "Astronomers are lucky because their work is to look at nice, colourful images from which they can draw inspiration to try and seduce hot chicks!" (for an example of the "nice" images with which I am presently (19 April 2001) dealing many hours a day click here), but rather to share the sense of wonder that these images may arise even in the most reluctant and dry hearts!


My Favourite Images

The M100 Spiral Galaxy imaged by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 1 and Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on-board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. A relatively shallow image, but with a moving personal side. For my Master Thesis, I performed simulations based on this image for not less than 6 months, getting to know virtually every pixel of it. As such, it deserves the place of honour!

Soon available: Infrared maps of ELAIS and HDFs fields obtained through the reduction of ISOCAM 7 and 15 $\mu$m data with the LARI Method!

The Solar Flare of 2 April 2001 observed by the EIT instrument on-board the NASA/ESA SOHO spacecraft.

The Hubble Deep Field observed with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on-board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

The Crab Nebula imaged by Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory.

My favourite desktop background image: the Lund Observatory Milky Way Panorama, available in gif format as a 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 image. Information on its history and on the ordering of photographic reproductions is available here.


My Favourite Image Archives

STScI ESO ESA AAO Frei and Gunn Galaxy Catalog

All Images


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