PICTURES THAT CAPTURE THE VASTNESS OF SPACE

INFINITESIMALLY SMALL CHANCES

The chances that a random hydrogen atom on the Sun will

collide with another hydrogen atom and create nuclear

fusion is estimated to happen only once in every five

billion years. Since there are loads of hydrogen atoms in

the Sun’s core, we don’t have to worry about the Sun

going dark for at least a few billion years.

THE LIT-UP WHIRLPOOL GALAXY

This striking image of the Whirlpool Galaxy, about 30 million

light years from Earth, shines with multiple points of

vivid brightness likely caused by ravenous black holes.

THE MISPLACED ARMS

The galaxy NGC 4258 is a typical spiral galaxy except for one

major feature: two huge spiral arms full of gas which

stretch out perpendicularly to its main arms.

GRAVITATIONAL LENSING

One of the coolest things astronomers have learned to do

is use interstellar matter, such as stars and dark matter

with strong gravitational pulls, as a lens in space,

magnifying the light of objects behind them. This image,

magnified through the galaxy cluster Abell 1689, gives

us a view of stars over 13 billion light years away.

GALACTIC CAVITIES

When a black hole erupts (shoots out shock waves), it

forcefully pushes gas outward and creates massive holes

known as cavities in its surrounding galaxy, as seen

here in NGC 5813.

OUR MILKY WAY

We can actually see our own galaxy from within it. This

picture shows our massive Milky Way Galaxy with the planet

Jupiter showing up as the bright ball in the centre.

THE MILKY WAY'S ARCH

This picture of the Milky Way Galaxy taken from Chile shows

just a handful of the stars visible in a clear night sky.

GALACTIC STARBURST

In this artist’s depiction, a spiral galaxy is experiencing

massive starburst (or star creation). The winds made by

star formation have been estimated to shoot out up to

650,000 light years.

THE SPARKLING SKY

Sometimes the cosmos looks more like an extravagant dress

from the movie Hairspray than its true self as a collection

of gas and dust, as here in this galactic cluster in the

Small Magellanic Cloud.