PIX4565601: Clusters of distant galaxies CL0024+1654 - Distant cluster of galaxies CL0024+1654 - False color image of cluster CL0024+1654 obtained with the 12k camera of CFHT (Canada France Hawaii Telescope) in Hawaii. This cluster is 4.5 billion light years away. This is a colour image of the galaxy cluster CL0024+1654 obtained with the CFHT12k camera at the Canada France Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea (Hawaii). Distance of 4.5 thousand million light - years (about one third of the look - back time to the Big Bang) from Earth. The cluster clearly appears as a concentration of yellow galaxies in the centre of this image although cluster galaxies actually extend at least to the edge of this image. This image measures 21 x 21 arc - minutes / Bridgeman Images

FLO4565602: Fringed gentian with blue, purple and white flowers, Gentiana crinita. Illustration by Clarissa Badger (nee Munger, 1806-1889), lithography published in “Wildflowers, dessinees et mises en couleur par la nature”, New York (USA), 1859. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4565630: Galaxy clusters 1ES 0657 - 55 in the Carene - Gravitational lens in galaxy cluster 1ES 0657 - 55 - False color image of the distant galaxy cluster 1ES 0657 - 55 in the southern constellation of Carene obtained by the VLT. A gravitational mirage is visible in the form of a green arc at the top right of the image; it is the image of an even farther away galaxy curved and amplified by the gravity of this cluster. An Arc at z = 3.23 in galaxy cluster 1ES 0657 - 55. The galaxy cluster 1ES 0657 - 55 is located in the southern constellation Carina (The Keel), south of the Milky Way band. Its redshift has been measured as z = 0.29. It is a source of strong and very hot X - ray emission and has an asymmetric galaxy distribution, indicating a large mass and recent formation / Bridgeman Images

FLO4565636: Fringed orchid variete, with pale pink flowers te white, Platanthera psycodes (Orchis psycodes). Illustration by Clarissa Badger (nee Munger, 1806-1889), lithography published in “Wildflowers, dessinees et mises en couleur par la nature”, New York (USA), 1859. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4565649: Bouquet of wild flowers: yellow tulip flower, pink eglantine, crimson red lobelia, blue campanule, lilies of the woods, etc... Illustration by Clarissa Badger (nee Munger, 1806-1889), lithography published in “Wildflowers, dessinees et mises en couleur par la nature”, New York (USA), 1859. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4565666: Tulip flower, Liriodendron tulipifera. Illustration by Clarissa Badger (nee Munger, 1806-1889), lithography published in “Wildflowers, dessinees et mises en couleur par la nature”, New York (USA), 1859. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4565667: Creeping epigee or mayflower with pink flowers, Epigaea repens. Illustration by Clarissa Badger (nee Munger, 1806-1889), lithography published in “Wildflowers, dessinees et mises en couleur par la nature”, New York (USA), 1859. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4565700: Galaxy cluster Abell 2667 - Galaxy cluster Abell 2667 - In this image of the galaxy cluster Abell 2667, a spiral galaxy, at the top left of the image, seems to leave a trail of gas and stars in its wake. Attracted by the high gravity of Abell 2667, this “galaxy - comete” plunges into the cluster at a speed of 3.5 million km/h, losing its gas and young stars. This phenomene may explain the presence of isolated stars in the centre of galaxy clusters. On the right, a further galaxy appears as a gravitational arc. Image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope in October 2001. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, in collaboration with several other ground - and space - based telescopes, has captured a galaxy being ripped apart by a galaxy cluster's gravitational field and harsh environment. The finding sheds light on the mysterious process by which gas - rich spiral - shaped galaxies might evolve into gas - poor irregular - or elliptical - shaped galaxies over billions of years. The new observations also show one mechanism to form the millions of 'homeless' stars seen scattered throughout galaxy clusters. While looking at the galaxy cluster Abell 2667, astronomers found an odd - looking spiral galaxy (shown here in the upper left hand corner of the image) that ploughs through the cluster after being accelerated to at least 3.5 million km/h by the enormous combined gravity of the cluster's dark matter, hot gas and hundreds of galaxies. As the galaxy speeds through, its gas and stars are being stripped away by the tidal forces exerted by the cluster just as the tidal forces exerted by the moon and Sun push and pull the Earth's oceans. Also contributing to this destructive process is the pressure of the cluster's hot gas plasma reaching temperatures as high as 10 - 100 million degrees. Both processes the tidal forces and the aptly named 'ram pressure stripping' resulting from the action of the hot clust / Bridgeman Images

FLO4565704: Indian musician playing the cymbals, in muslin robes, sash and hat. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by an unknown artist from “” Asiatic Costumes,”” Ackermann, London, 1828. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4565707: Galaxy clusters LCDCS - 0829 - Galaxy cluster LCDCS - 0829 - Gravitational lenses in the galaxy cluster LCDCS - 0829. Image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope usually works as a solo artist to capture awe - inspiring images of the distant Universe. For this picture, though, Hubble had a helping hand from the subject of the image, a galaxy cluster called LCDCS - 0829, as the huge mass of the galaxies in the cluster acted like a giant magnifying glass. This strange effect is called gravitational lensing. The object was discovered during the Las Campanas Distant Clusters Survey, which explains the cluster's unusual name. This survey was carried out in March 1995 using a 1 - metre telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. More than one thousand clusters of galaxies, most of them previously unknown, were found in a dedicated survey of a long, but narrow, section of the southern sky. The bizarre phenomenon of gravitational lensing is a consequence of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which says that the huge mass of the galaxy cluster bends the fabric of the Universe, and the light from one of the distant galaxies will then travel along this bend in the fabric. In addition to making some objects appear bigger and brighter, gravitational lensing can produce multiple images of distant galaxies and stretch them into strange arcs. Many such arcs can be seen in this image. This deep image of the cluster was created from a total of 36 exposures taken using the Wide Field Channel of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys / Bridgeman Images

PIX4565712: Abell 383 galaxy cluster and primitive galaxy - Abell 383 cluster of galaxies with gravitational arcs - Abell 383 is a cluster of galaxies located in the constellation Eridan. This image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in 2011 shows gravitational arcs among galaxies. These mirages are deformed images of farther galaxies located behind the cluster. Thanks to this magnifying effect, the resulting image revealed the presence of a primitive galaxy, nee 200 million years after the big blow. Astronomers have uncovered one of the youngest galaxies in the distant universe, with stars that formed 13.5 billion years ago, a mere 200 million years after the Big Bang. The finding addresses questions about when the first galaxies arose, and how the early universe evolved. Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope was the first to spot the newfound galaxy. Detailed observations from the W.M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii revealed the observed light dates to when the universe was only 950 million years old; the universe formed about 13.7 billion years ago. Infrared data from both Hubble and Nasa's Spitzer Space Telescope revealed the galaxy's stars are quite mature, having formed when the universe was just a toddler at 200 million years old. The galaxy's image is being magnified by the gravity of a massive cluster of galaxies (Abell 383) parked in front of it, making it appear 11 times brighter. This phenomenon is called gravitational lensing. Hubble imaged the lensing galaxy Abell 383 with the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys in November 2010 through March 2011 / Bridgeman Images

FLO4565745: Longitudinal sections of the femur 1,2 and of the tibia 3. Copperplate engraving by Edward Mitchell after an anatomical illustration by Jean-Joseph Sue from John Barclay's A Series of Engravings of the Human Skeleton, MacLachlan and Stewart, Edinburgh, 1824. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4565763: Fetal skeleton at six months with scythe 1, at three months 2 and at ten weeks 3. Copperplate engraving by Edward Mitchell after an anatomical illustration by Jean-Joseph Sue from John Barclay's A Series of Engravings of the Human Skeleton, MacLachlan and Stewart, Edinburgh, 1824. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4564249: Coffee plant, Coffea arabica. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by F. Kirchner from Willibald Artus' Hand-Atlas sammtlicher medicinisch-pharmaceutischer Gewachse / Bridgeman Images

PIX4564265: Blue stragglers in cluster 47 Toucan - Blue stragglers in globular cluster 47 Tucanae - This image obtained by the Hubble space telescope shows a detail of the 47 Toucan cluster near its center (the field is indicated on the left image taken from the ground). The yellow circles on the right image indicate the position of stars identified by the telescope as blue trainers. Because of the high density of stars within a globular cluster, a collision between two stars sometimes occurs, merging into a single young, bright and warm star called a blue straggler. The core of globular cluster 47 Tucanae is home to many blue stragglers, rejuvenated stars that glow with the blue light of young stars. A ground - based telescope image (on the left) shows the entire crowded core of 47 Tucanae, located 15,000 light - years away in the constellation Tucana. Peering into the heart of the globular cluster's bright core, the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 separated the dense clump of stars into many individual stars (image on right). Some of these stars shine with the light of old stars; others with the blue light of blue stragglers. The yellow circles in the Hubble telescope image highlight several of the club's blue stragglers. Astronomers theorize that blue stragglers are formed either by the slow merger of stars in a double - star system or by the collision of two unrelated stars. For the blue straggler in 47 Tucanae, astronomers favor the slow merger scenario. This photo is a three - color composite of Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 archival images taken with ultraviolet, blue, and violet filters. Green, blue, and red colors were assigned to the filters and scaled so that the red giant stars appear orange, the main sequence stars are white/green, and the blue stragglers are appropriately blue. The ultraviolet images were taken on / Bridgeman Images

FLO4564279: Maidenhair fern, Adiantum capillus-veneris. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Dr. Willibald Artus' Hand-Atlas sammtlicher mediinisch-pharmaceutischer Gewachse, (Handbook of all medical-pharmaceutical plants), Jena, 1876. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4564281: Lovage, Levistium officinale. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Dr. Willibald Artus' Hand-Atlas sammtlicher mediinisch-pharmaceutischer Gewachse, (Handbook of all medical-pharmaceutical plants), Jena, 1876. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4564283: Globular cluster 47 Toucan - The globular cluster 47 Tucanae, NGC 104 - The globular cluster 47 Toucan (or NGC 104) is visible to the naked eye from the southern hemisphere. Located about 15000 years ago - light it contains several million stars, some of which are among the oldest stars known today. Image obtained from the 3.9m telescope of Siding Spring, Australia. Among the many spectacular objects in the southern skies are two magnificent naked - eye globular clusters, omega Centauri and 47 Tucanae. These ancient cities of stars are captives of the Milky Way but were formed long before our Galaxy assumed its present shape, indeed these clusters have some of the oldest known stars. 47 Tuc is about 15,000 light years distant and contains several million stars, as many as some minor galaxies. The crowded central region leads to occasional stellar encounters and it is in 47 Tuc that rapidly - spinning pulsars have been discovered by radio astronomers. Although the light of globular clusters is dominated by so - called 'red' giant stars, their colour is no redder than a domestic tungsten lamp, so the true colour of 47 Tuc is close to the pale yellow / Bridgeman Images

FLO4564297: Lavender, Lavandula angustifolia. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Dr. Willibald Artus' Hand-Atlas sammtlicher mediinisch-pharmaceutischer Gewachse, (Handbook of all medical-pharmaceutical plants), Jena, 1876. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4564335: Globular cluster NGC 1806 in Dorado - Globular cluster NGC 1806 in Dorado - Image of the globular cluster NGC 1806 located in the southern constellation of Dorado. NGC 1806 belongs to the galaxy of the Great Magellan Cloud, a galaxy adjacent to our lactee path. Image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has turned its sharp eye towards a tight collection of stars, first seen 174 years ago. The result is a sparkling image of NGC 1806, tens of thousands of stars gravitationally bound into a rich cluster. Commonly called globular clusters, most of these objects are very old, having formed in the distant past when the Universe was only a fraction of its current age. NGC 1806 lies within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. It can be observed within the constellation of Dorado (the dolphin - fish), an area of the sky best seen from the Earth's southern hemisphere. NGC 1806 was discovered in 1836 by the British astronomer John Herschel. The Wide Field Channel of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys was used to obtain this picture that was created from images taken through blue (F435W, coloured blue), yellow (F555W, coloured green) and near - infrared (F814W, coloured red) filters. The exposure times were 770 s, 720 s and 688 s, respectively, and the field of view is 3.1 by 1.9 arcminutes / Bridgeman Images

FLO4564343: Ground-ivy, Glechoma hederacea (Glechoma hederaceum). Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Dr. Willibald Artus' Hand-Atlas sammtlicher mediinisch-pharmaceutischer Gewachse, (Handbook of all medical-pharmaceutical plants), Jena, 1876. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4564370: Centauri Omega globular cluster - The globular cluster Omega Centauri, NGC 5139 - Visible to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere, Centaurus Omega is the most massive globular cluster in the galaxy. About 17,000 light years ago, millions of stars nearly 12 billion years old are concentrated here. NGC 5139 is the largest and most spectacular globular cluster in the entire night sky, and the largest in our galaxy. At 36 arc minutes, Omega Centauri is larger than the full moon in apparent size. It is located about 17,000 light years away from our Sun and at 4th magnitude, is easily visible without a telescope as a “” star”” in the constellation of Centaurus. It contains about 2 million stars, almost twice as many as M13. The stars in globular clusters are generally older, redder and less massive than our Sun / Bridgeman Images

FLO4564395: Bistort, Persicaria bistorta (Polygonum bistorta). Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Dr. Willibald Artus' Hand-Atlas sammtlicher mediinisch-pharmaceutischer Gewachse, (Handbook of all medical-pharmaceutical plants), Jena, 1876. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4564408: Centaurus Omega globular cluster - Omega globular cluster in Centaurus - Located 17,000 years ago - light from Earth in the southern constellation of Centaurus, Omega Centaurus (NGC 5139) contains several million stars and is one of the oldest objects in our galaxy. Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) is located about 17,000 light years from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus and contains several million stars. It is the biggest globular cluster in our galaxy and also one of the oldest objects of our galaxy / Bridgeman Images

PIX4564449: Centaur Omega globular cluster - The globular cluster Omega Centauri, NGC 5139 - Located 17,000 years ago - light from Earth in the southern constellation of Centaur, Omega Centauri contains several million stars and is one of the most ancient objects in our galaxy. Image obtained by the VST (VLT Survey Telescope) in Chile. The second released VST (VLT Survey Telescope) image may be the best portrait of the globular star cluster Omega Centauri ever made. Omega Centauri, in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur), is the largest globular cluster in the sky, but the very wide field of view of VST and its powerful camera Omegaam can include even the faint outer regions of this spectacular object. This view includes about 300,000 stars / Bridgeman Images

FLO4564456: Rubber tree, Hevea guianensis (Siphonia elastica). Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Dr. Willibald Artus' Hand-Atlas sammtlicher mediinisch-pharmaceutischer Gewachse, (Handbook of all medical-pharmaceutical plants), Jena, 1876. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4564461: Globular cluster M3 in Hunting Dogs - Globular cluster M3 in Canes Venatici - This cluster contains about 500,000 stars and is located 100,000 years - light from Earth. This globular cluster is about 100,000 light - years from us and contains approximately 555,000 stars / Bridgeman Images

FLO4564485: Caper spurge or paper spurge. Euphorbia lathyris. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Dr. Willibald Artus' Hand-Atlas sammtlicher mediinisch-pharmaceutischer Gewachse, (Handbook of all medical-pharmaceutical plants), Jena, 1876. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4564535: White dwarf and planet in the globular cluster M4 - Oldest known planet in globular cluster M4 - The globular cluster M4 is located about 7000 years from Earth and seems to be 13 billion years old. The Hubble a space telescope identifies a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a white dwarf star (green circle on the image). It would be the oldest planet known to date. Image of a starfield in the globular cluster M4. The green circle at right shows the location of a white dwarf star where a Jupiter - sized planet is orbiting. The planet is 2.5 times the mass of Jupiter. It is the oldest known planet identified. M4 is located 7000 light - years away in the summer constellation Scorpius / Bridgeman Images

PIX4564537: White dwarf and planet in the globular cluster M4 - Oldest known planet in globular cluster M4 - The globular cluster M4 is located about 7000 years from Earth and seems to be 13 billion years old. The Hubble a space telescope identifies a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a white dwarf star (arrow on the image). It would be the oldest planet known to date. Hubble Space Telescope image of stars in globular cluster M4. Marked is a white - dwarf star, which is orbited by the pulsar called PSR B1620 - 26; this system had been discovered by radio astronomers in 1988. Only the white dwarf is visible in this image. The system has a third companion, it has a mass 2.5 times larger than planet Jupiter, and is thus recognized as a planet / Bridgeman Images

FLO4564540: Persian walnut or English walnut, Juglans regia. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Dr. Willibald Artus' Hand-Atlas sammtlicher mediinisch-pharmaceutischer Gewachse, (Handbook of all medical-pharmaceutical plants), Jena, 1876. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4564549: Globular cluster M4 in Scorpio - Globular cluster M4 in Scorpius - M4 is a globular cluster located about 7000 years - light from Earth in the constellation Scorpio. Lower left, NGC 6144 cluster. M4 globular cluster is about 7,000 light years away in the contellation Scorpius. On bottom left, the NGC 6144 cluster / Bridgeman Images

FLO4564606: European wild ginger or hazelwort, Asarum europaeum. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Dr. Willibald Artus' Hand-Atlas sammtlicher mediinisch-pharmaceutischer Gewachse, (Handbook of all medical-pharmaceutical plants), Jena, 1876. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4564614: Globular cluster M107 in Ophiuchus - Globular cluster M107 in Ophiuchus - The globular cluster M107 (NGC 6171) is approximately 21,000 years - light in the constellation Ophiuchus. Image obtained from the 2.2m MPG/ESO telescope in Chile. The globular cluster Messier 107, also known as NGC 6171, is located about 21 000 light - years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus. Messier 107 is about 13 arcminutes across, which corresponds to about 80 light - years at its distance. As is typical of globular clusters, a population of thousands of old stars in Messier 107 is densely concentrated into a volume that is only about twenty times the distance between our Sun and its nearest stellar neighbour, Alpha Centauri, across. This image was created from exposures taken through blue, green and near - infrared filters, using the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2 - metre telescope at La Silla Observatory, Chile / Bridgeman Images

PIX4564654: Globular cluster M13 - Hercules cluster - The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules M13 - M13 (NGC 6205) extends for about 150 years - light and is 22,000 years - light from Earth in the constellation Hercules. M13 (NGC 6205) appearing in the constellation Ophiuchus at approximately 22,000 light - years away and about 150 light - years across / Bridgeman Images

FLO4564717: Meadow saffron, Colchicum autumnal. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Dr. Willibald Artus' Hand-Atlas sammtlicher mediinisch-pharmaceutischer Gewachse, (Handbook of all medical-pharmaceutical plants), Jena, 1876. / Bridgeman Images