Print this page or go back to standard view.
PIX4610256: Galaxy NGC 2964 in the Lion - Galaxy NGC 2964 in Leo - NGC 2964 is a barred spiral galaxy located at a distance of about 71 million years - light. In the center of the image is the galaxy NGC 2968 and in the upper right is the galaxy NGC 2970. NGC 2964, a barred spiral galaxy in Leo. In the center of the image is galaxy NGC 2968 and top right is the galaxy NGC 2970 / Bridgeman Images
PIX4632529: Earth by night - Earth by night - Earth by night satellite. Mosaic of hundreds of images obtained by DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) satellites in 2003. This image shows Earth's human - generated nighttime lights for the calendar year 2003, based on observations by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Line Scanner. In this image, oceans appear black, landmasses appear in varying shades of blue, and lights appear yellow - white. Because these images focus on human impact, they do not include other (natural) light sources. Besides assembling cloud - free images, data visualizers carefully excluded sunlight, moonlight, and light from the Northern Hemisphere aurora / Bridgeman Images
PIX4632750: First plants on Earth - Artist view - First plants - Artist view - Artist view - Artist view of the first plants (Cooksonia caledonica) that appeared on Earth in Silurian more than 400 million years ago. Species of Cooksonia caledonica, the only witness to a spectacular Late Silurian sunset, establish a tenuous foothold on a mound of ancient lava. 600 million years ago the Earth's oceans were teaming with life, however it wasn't until 200 million years later that the first plants emerged from the waters and made the Earth's surface their home. They were simple plants, standing only a few inches tall, consisting of slender stalks with branches and rounded structures called sporangia. The sporangia, common to funguses and non - seed plants, produced and contained the spores required for reproduction / Bridgeman Images
PIX4632762: Devonian Canopee - Artist's View - Devonian Canopy - Artist's View of an Archaeopteris Forest about 380 million years ago. The fossil record reveals that great forests of Archaeopteris covered much of the Earth 380 million years ago. The large umbrella - like fronds appear to have been optimized for gathering sunlight at the canopy level while still permitting enough light to reach the shorter and younger trees. It was great forests like these that helped to draw much of the carbon dioxide out of the primeval air while releasing the oxygen we breathe today / Bridgeman Images
PIX4610486: Spiral Galaxy NGC 3079 in the Great Bear - Spiral galaxy NGC 3079 - NGC 3079 is a spiral galaxy distant about 50 million years - light from Earth. His disc measures about 70,000 years - light. Also visible in this photo is the quasar Q0957+561, 9 billion years away - light. The NGC 3079 spiral galaxy is located at about 50 million light years from Earth. Its dics is approximately 70,000 light years wide. The Q0957+561 twin quasar, roughly at 9 billion light years away, is also visible in this image / Bridgeman Images
PIX4610672: Galaxies M95 and M96 in the Lion - Galaxies M95 and M96 in Leo - M95 (NGC 3351), on the left, is a barree spiral of type SBB, M96 (NGC 3368), on the right, is a spiral galaxy of type Sa. M96 is the brightest member of the Leo I galaxy group, which is also called the M96 group. It also contains M95, M105 and a number of weaker galaxies. Their distance to our Sun was measured with great precision thanks to the discovery of cepheides in these galaxies and the appearance of a supernova of type Ia in M96 in May 1998. These two galaxies are located 37 million light years away from Earth. M95 (NGC 3351, left), is a barred spiral galaxy, M96 (NGC 3368, right), is a spiral galaxy. With M105 (not pictured here), they are dominant members of the Leo I galactic group which also includes several fainter galaxies. Their distance from our Sun has been determinated with great precision thanks to the discovery of Cepheids stars in these galaxies and a type IA supernova in M96 appeared in May 1998. Their distance to our Sun is 37 million light - years / Bridgeman Images
PIX4610853: Spiral galaxy NGC 3628 in the Lion - NGC 3628 spiral galaxy in Leo - NGC 3628 is a spiral galaxy seen by the slice located at a distance of about 35 million years - light. With its neighbors M65 and M66, it forms a remarkable triplet of galaxies, called the Lion Triplet or the M66 Group. Image obtained with a 400 mm telescope, 2h15mn installation through different filters. NGC 3628 is an edge - on sipral galaxy about 35 Mly away. She forms the remarkable Leo triplet with its neighbors M65 and M66 / Bridgeman Images
PIX4610870: Spiral Galaxy NGC 3628 in the Lion - Spiral galaxy NGC 3628 in Leo - NGC 3628 is a spiral galaxy seen by the slice located at a distance of about 35 million years - light. With its neighbors M65 and M66, it forms a remarkable triplet of galaxies, called the Lion Triplet or the M66 Group. Image obtained with Siding Spring's 3.9m telescope. This picture has been specially enhanced to reveal NGC 3628, which is seen as an edge - on spiral galaxy, crossed by a dust lane. Galaxies seen edge - on are rare, but this example has other peculiarities. The dust lane is distinctly askew and the ends of the spiral arms are obviously puffed out, with evidence of star formation. The bright bulge of the galaxy also has an unusual 'peanut' shape. This suggests that the galaxies of the Leo group are interacting, gradually pulling each other apart as they orbit each other. Image obtained with the 3.9m telescope of Siding Spring / Bridgeman Images
PIX4610901: Spiral Galaxy NGC 3628 in the Lion - Spiral galaxy NGC 3628 in Leo - NGC 3628 is a spiral galaxy seen by the slice located at a distance of about 35 million years - light. With its neighbors M65 and M66, it forms a remarkable triplet of galaxies, called the Lion Triplet or the M66 Group. This edge - on galaxy lies about 35 million light years away. It is the fainter member of the Leo triplet, a group of galaxies dominated by M65 and M66 / Bridgeman Images
PIX4610993: Spiral galaxy NGC 3982 in the Great Bear - Spiral galaxy NGC 3982 in Ursa Major - The spiral galaxy NGC 3982 is located about 68 million years ago - light from Earth. It extends over about 30,000 light years. It is a spiral galaxy that houses a black hole in its heart and large zones of star formation in its arms. This image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). This face - on spiral galaxy, called NGC 3982, is striking for its rich tapestry of star birth, along with its winding arms. The arms are lined with pink star - forming regions of glowing hydrogen, newborn blue star clusters, and obscuring dust lanes that provide the raw material for future generations of stars. The bright nucleus is home to an older population of stars, which grow ever more densely packed towards the center. NGC 3982 is located about 68 million light - years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy spans about 30,000 light - years, one - third of the size of our Milky Way galaxy. This color image is composed of exposures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), and the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). The observations were taken between March 2000 and August 2009 / Bridgeman Images
PIX4611054: Galaxy NGC 4027 in the Raven - Galaxy NGC 4027 in Corvus - NGC 4027 is a spiral galaxy located about 80 million years ago - light. One of his arms is more extended, probably by the presence of a nearby dwarf galaxy. Image made with Siding Spring's 3.9m telescope. This galaxy is of interest because of its similarity to the Large Magellanic Cloud, (LMC) our nearest extra - galactic neighbour. Like the LMC, its light comes predominantly from young stars, which are hotter than the Sun and give the galaxy a bluish colour. However, because this galaxy is over 80 million light - years distant we see only the integrated light of millions of unresolved stars, rather than the individuals we see in the LMC. NGC 4027 has a somewhat distorted appearance and an elongated spiral arm, probably due to the gravitational effect of a smaller companion galaxy, not visible in this photograph but rather obvious on a much deeper image. NGC 4027 is less than half a degree south of the Antennae interacting galaxies / Bridgeman Images
PIX4634038: Halo around the Moon - Lunar Halo - This halo is due to the light of the full moon reflected by high-altitude clouds, cirrostratus, composed of ice crystals. They bend the light and cause a perfect circle around the Moon. Lunar halos are caused by moonlight being refracted by cirro-stratus clouds. These thin clouds are located very high in the atmosphere, and are composed of ice crystals. They bend light at a 22 degree angle, which creates a halo that is 44 degrees in diameter / Bridgeman Images