PIX4620774: Nebula N119 in the Great Magellan Cloud - N119 is a “” H II region”” in the LMC / Bridgeman Images

PIX4620802: Nebula N44 in the Large Magellan Cloud - Superbubble LHA 120 - N 44 in the Large Magellanic Cloud - This image obtained by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) shows the nebula N44 surrounding the cluster of stars NGC 1929. It is a star-forming region located in the galaxy of the Great Magellan Cloud, about 170,000 light years from Earth. Eso's Very Large Telescope captured this striking view of the nebula around the star cluster NGC 1929 within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. A colossal example of what astronomers call a superbubble dominates this stellar nursery. It is being carved by the winds from bright young stars and the shockwaves from supernova explosions. This nebula is officially known as LHA 120 - N 44, or just N 44 for short. Hot young stars in NGC 1929 are emitting intense ultraviolet light and causing the gas to glow. This effect highlights the aptly - named superbubble, a vast shell of material around 325 by 250 light - years across. For comparison, the nearest star to our Sun is just over four light - years distant. The N 44 superbubble has been produced by the combination of two processes. Firstly, stellar winds - - streams of charged particles from the very hot and massive stars in the central cluster - - cleared out the central region. Then massive cluster stars exploded as supernovae creating shockwaves and pushing the gas out further to form the glowing bubble. Although the superbubble is shaped by destructive forces, new stars are forming around the edges where the gas is being compressed. Like recycling on a cosmic scale, this next generation of stars will breathe fresh life into NGC 1929 / Bridgeman Images

FLO4620803: Medals and illustrations of Numidian and Mauritanian horse riders. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Andrea Bernieri from Giulio Ferrario's Ancient and Modern Costumes of all the Peoples of the World, 1843. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4620841: Nebula NGC 346 in the Small Magellan Cloud - Nebula NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud - Photo of the nebula NGC 346, located about 210,000 years ago - light in the galaxy of the Little Magellan Cloud, obtained by the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope. Nebula NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a nearby irregular galaxy, seen by the 2.2 - metre MPG/ESO telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile / Bridgeman Images

PIX4620847: N66 Nebula in the Little Magellan Cloud - Photo of the N66 nebula in the galaxy of the Small Magellan Cloud obtained by the Hubble space telescope. At the center of this nebula, a cluster of very young stars, NGC 346 in which some stars are only 5 million years old. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4620885: Nebula N55 in the Great Magellan Cloud - Star forming region north of the Great Magellan Cloud. Image from the 1.2m Schmidt UK Telescope of Siding Spring / Bridgeman Images

PIX4620894: Nebula N55 in the Great Magellan Cloud - Henize 55 (NGC 2014) is a star-forming region located north of the Great Magellan Cloud. Image obtained by Siding Spring's 3.9m telescope / Bridgeman Images

PIX4620950: Nebula Sharpless 2 - 1 (SH2 - 1) in Scorpio - Nebula Sharpless 2 - 1 (SH2 - 1) in Scorpio / Bridgeman Images

FLO4618834: A student is introduced to the head of a college at Oxford University. First Bow to Alma Mater, or Bernard Blackmantle's introduction to the Big Wig. Handcoloured copperplate drawn and engraved by Robert Cruikshank from The English Spy, London, 1825. Written by Bernard Blackmantle, a pseudonym for Charles Molloy Westmacott. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618863: Nebula NGC 2359 in the Grand Chie / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618865: Nebula NGC 3372 in the Carene in false colours - NGC 3372 Carina nebula - Image of the nebula of the Carene (NGC 3372), a very vast region of star formation, obtained by combining light through 3 different filters that highlight oxygen in blue, hydrogen in green, and sulfur in red. The colors also represent different gas temperatures, warm, blue, colder in red. The bright star in the center of the image is Eta Carinae, a super massive star. Image obtained with the Curtis - Schmidt telescope of the Cerro Tololo Observatory. This image shows a giant star - forming region in the southern sky known as the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372), combining the light from 3 different filters tracing emission from oxygen (blue), hydrogen (green), and sulphur (red). The color is also representative of the temperature in the ionized gas: blue is relatively hot and red is cooler. The Carina Nebula is a good example of how very massive stars rip apart the molecular clouds that give birth to them. The bright star near the center of the image is Eta Carinae, which is one of the most massive and luminous stars known. This picture is a composite of several exposures made with the Curtis - Schmidt telescope at the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618867: Nebula NGC 3372 in the Carene in false colours - NGC 3372 Carina nebula - The nebula of the Carene is located about 8000 years - light from the Earth. It is home to many hot stars, including the massive star Eta Carinae in the centre of the nebula. Top right is the cluster of stars NGC 3293. Image obtained from the 1.2m Schmidt UK telescope of Siding Spring. Although no bright naked - eye stars are associated with the Carina nebula now, 150 years ago there blazed forth here one of the most unusual and peculiar stars ever seen. The star is known as Eta Carinae and for a few months in 1843 it was the second or third brightest star in the sky. Since then it has faded and is today about 1000 times fainter than it was at its brightest as the nebula it created during its outburst has cooled and become opaque. The whole region around Eta Carinae is rich in hot stars of which Eta is an extreme example and it is their combined radiation that produces the spectacular Carina nebula that dominates this picture. The nebula and its peculiar star are about 8000 light years away / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618883: Detail of the nebula NGC 3324 in the Carene - Detail of nebula NGC 3324 in Carina - Detail of the nebula NGC 3324 obtained by the Hubble space telescope. This nebula is located in the southern hemisphere, close to the great Carene nebula about 7200 light years from Earth. The image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope shows a gas wall at the edge of a cavite created by the radiation and stellar winds blown by young warm stars. Hubble space telescope image shows the edge of a giant gaseous cavity within the star - forming region called NGC 3324. The glowing nebula has been carved out by intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from several hot, young stars. A cluster of extremely massive stars, located well outside this image in the center of the nebula, is responsible for the ionization of the nebula and excavation of the cavity. The image also reveals dramatic dark towers of cool gas and dust that rise above the glowing wall of gas. The dense gas at the top resists the blistering ultraviolet radiation from the central stars, and creates a tower that points in the direction of the energy flow. The high - energy radiation blazing out from the hot, young stars in NGC 3324 is sculpting the wall of the nebula by slowly eroding it away. Located in the Southern Hemisphere, NGC 3324 is at the northwest corner of the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372), home of the Keyhole Nebula and the active, outbursting star Eta Carinae. The entire Carina Nebula complex is located at a distance of roughly 7,200 light - years, and lies in the constellation Carina. This image is a composite of data taken with two of Hubble's science instruments. Data taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in 2006 isolated light emitted by hydrogen. More recent data, taken in 2008 with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), isolated light emitted by sulfur and oxygen gas. To create a color composite, the data from the sulfur filter are represented by re / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618887: Nebula NGC 3372 in the Carene - The Carina nebula, NGC 3372 - The Carene nebula is located about 7000 years from the Earth. It is home to many hot stars, including the star Eta Carinae in the centre of the nebula. Image obtained by Siding Spring's 3.9m telescope. The brightest part of the Milky Way, as seen by the unaided eye, lies in the southern constellation Carina. Here there are an unusually large number of young, hot stars. Their radiation is rich in energetic ultraviolet light. Many of these stars were born within the spectacular Carinae nebula, seen here. The nebula is a cloud of glowing gas composed mostly of hydrogen. It excited by ultrviolet light from the embedded stars. This dostictive emission radiation is responsible for the red colour. About a quarter of the nebula is made of helium gas, the second most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen, and all the other chemical elements account for only a few percent of the total mass. The brightest star in the nebula is known as eta Carinae. This remarkable object is one of the most luminous and most massive stars known / Bridgeman Images

FLO4618893: Regency fops admiring the ballerina Maria Mercandotti, the Andalusian Venus, perform a pirouette in the Green Room at the Opera. Among the crowd are the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Fife and Mademoiselle Noblet bending over to show her bosom. Noble Amateurs viewing Foreign Curiosities. Handcoloured copperplate drawn and engraved by Robert Cruikshank from The English Spy, London, 1825. Written by Bernard Blackmantle, a pseudonym for Charles Molloy Westmacott. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618913: Heart of the nebula NGC 3372 in the Carene - Eta Carinae and the Keyhole Nebula - The nebula of the Carene is located about 7000 years - light from the Earth. It is home to many hot stars, including the star Eta Carinae visible in the centre left of the image. Eta Carinae is a supermassive star (100 to 150 times the mass of the Sun). Image obtained by Siding Spring's 3.9m telescope. This wonderfully complex region at the heart of the NGC 3372 nebula was first described in detail by Sir John Herschel in 1838. He saw the bright circular shell visible in the upper part of the picture extending to the south to form a keyhole - shaped nebula. This luminous outline is no longer seen and the southern extension appears only as a dark dust cloud. It seems that the curious, explosively variable star Eta Carinae has enveloped itself in a cocoon of obscuring matter in the years since Herschel's observations and light from the star is no longer able to illuminate the rim of the dust cloud. The nebula thrown off by eta Car in Herschel's time has grown to the tiny orange nebula seen to the left of the dust cloud and is known as the Homunculus nebula / Bridgeman Images

FLO4618922: King George IV imitating the actor John Kemble in front of Princess Augusta, his mistress the Marchioness of Conyngham, and the mimick Charles Mathews. The King at Home; or Mathews at Carlton House. Handcoloured copperplate drawn and engraved by Robert Cruikshank from The English Spy, London, 1825. Written by Bernard Blackmantle, a pseudonym for Charles Molloy Westmacott. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4618971: Regency gentlemen drinking gin at the Daffy Club, held in Tom Belcher's Castle Tavern, Holborn. Paintings of famous boxers including John Jackson, Daniel Mendoza, Tom Cribb and the fighting dog Trusty. The Daffy Club, or a Musical Muster of the Fancy. Handcoloured copperplate drawn and engraved by Robert Cruikshank from The English Spy, London, 1825. Written by Bernard Blackmantle, a pseudonym for Charles Molloy Westmacott. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618996: Nebulae in the Carene - H - Alpha - The Carene nebula (NGC 3372), on the right, is located about 7000 light years from Earth. It is home to many hot stars, including the star Eta Carinae. Lower left, nebulae NGC 3603 and NGC 3576. Image made with an H - alpha filter in Chile / Bridgeman Images

FLO4619006: A lawyer being tossed in a blanket by his colleagues in the yard at King's Bench Prison. Debtors and creditors inside a debtor's prison. Surry Collegians giving a lift to a Limb of the Law. Handcoloured copperplate drawn and engraved by Robert Cruikshank from The English Spy, London, 1825. Written by Bernard Blackmantle, a pseudonym for Charles Molloy Westmacott. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4619079: Regency dinner party at the home of a bourgeois family. Liston and the Lambkins, or the Citizens Dinner Party. Handcoloured copperplate drawn and engraved by Robert Cruikshank from The English Spy, London, 1825. Written by Bernard Blackmantle, a pseudonym for Charles Molloy Westmacott. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4619117: Regency alderman and tradesmen fighting over dinner at the Gate House, Highgate. Handcoloured copperplate drawn and engraved by Robert Cruikshank from The English Spy, London, 1825. Written by Bernard Blackmantle, a pseudonym for Charles Molloy Westmacott. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4619841: Saladin (1138-1193), first Sultan of Egypt, and Selim I (known as the Brave or the Terrible, 1470-1520), Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Andrea Bernieri from Giulio Ferrario's Costumes Antique and Modern of All Peoples (Il Costume Antico e Moderno di Tutti i i Popoli), 1843. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4619865: Home of Chief Ras Velletta Selasse in Antalow, Ethiopia, early 19th century. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Antonio Sasso from Giulio Ferrario's Ancient and Modern Costumes of all the Peoples of the World, 1843. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4619914: African animals: zebra, Equus quagga, giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis, endangered chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, and the endangered Asian jocko (orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus). Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Antonio Sasso from Giulio Ferrario's Ancient and Modern Costumes of all the Peoples of the World, 1843. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4619956: Eagle Nebula (IC 4703) and M16 star cluster in the Snake - Eagle nebula in Serpens - The Eagle Nebula is a cluster of massive young stars (M16) surrounded by clouds of gas and dust. The three columns in the center of the image were sculpted by the intense radiation emitted by these massive stars. Stars will be born in these clouds if they survive the intense radiation that erodes these pillars. Messier 16 is a cluster of young stars which formed about 2 million years ago from the gas and dust which still surrounds them. Brilliant blue stars of this type are much hotter than the Sun and can be up to thirty times more massive. The dark intrusions visible across the face of the nebula are condensations of dusty material which might one day collapse into yet more stars, should they survive the radiation from the bright stars, which is gradually etching them away. Bright red regions of photo - ionised hydrogen such as M16 are usually found in the spiral arms of galaxies and are often associated recent star formation. This example is about 6000 - 7000 light years distant / Bridgeman Images

FLO4619981: Costumes of the Wolof people of Senegal. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Antonio Sasso from Giulio Ferrario's Ancient and Modern Costumes of all the Peoples of the World, 1843. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4620031: Costumes of religious elite of Ouidah, Benin, and an idol of black clay with a crown of lizards, snakes and feathers seated on a pedestal. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Antonio Sasso from Giulio Ferrario's Ancient and Modern Costumes of all the Peoples of the World, 1843. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4620051: Natives of the Ivory Coast, Africa. Men in loinclothes with hair dyed red and dressed with palm oil, and a noble in cloak. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Antonio Sasso from Giulio Ferrario's Ancient and Modern Costumes of all the Peoples of the World, 1843. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4620060: Eagle Nebula (IC 4703) in the Snake - detail - Star forming region in the Eagle nebula - View of a column of gas and dust in the Eagle nebula. This Pillar of creation “” is a region where stars are born. Stars in the Eagle Nebula are born in clouds of cold hydrogen gas that reside in chaotic neighbourhoods, where energy from young stars sculpts fantasy - like landscapes in the gas. The tower may be a giant incubator for those newborn stars. A torrent of ultraviolet light from a band of massive, hot, young stars (off the top of the image) is eroding the pillar. The starlight also is responsible for illuminating the tower's rough surface. Ghostly streamers of gas can be seen boiling off this surface, creating the haze around the structure and highlighting its three - dimensional shape. The column is silhouetted against the background glow of more distant gas. cloud. The dominant colours in the image were produced by gas energized by the star club's powerful ultraviolet light. The blue colour at the top is from glowing oxygen. The red colon in the lower region is from glowing hydrogen. The Eagle Nebula image was taken in November 2004 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4620062: Eagle Nebula (IC 4703) in the Snake - detail - Young stars in the Eagle nebula - Detail on young stars located in the north - west part of the Eagle Nebula (M16). Image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope. This picture shows the northwestern part of the Eagle nebula (M16), well away from the centre, and features some very bright young stars that formed from the same cloud of material. These energetic toddlers are part of an open cluster and emit ultraviolet radiation that causes the surrounding nebula to glow. The star cluster is very bright and was discovered in the mid - eighteenth century. The nebula, however, is much more elusive and it took almost a further two decades for it to be first noted by Charles Messier in 1764. Although it is commonly known as the Eagle Nebula, its official designation is Messier 16 and the cluster is also named NGC 6611. One spectacular area of the nebula (outside the field of view) has been nicknamed The Pillars of Creation”” ever since the Hubble Space Telescope captured an iconic image of dramatic pillars of star - forming gas and dust. The cluster and nebula are fascinating targets for small and medium - sized telescopes, particularly from a dark site free from light pollution. Messier 16 can be found within the constellation of Serpens Cauda (the Tail of the Serpent), which is sandwiched between Aquila, Sagittarius, and Ophiuchus in the heart of one of the brightest parts of the Milky Way. Small telescopes with low power are useful for observing large, but faint, swathes of the nebula, whereas 30 cm telescopes and larger may reveal the dark pillars under good conditions. But a space telescope in orbit around the Earth, like Hubble - - which boasts a 2.4 - metre diameter mirror and state - of - the - art instruments - - is required for an image as spectacular as this one. This picture was created from images taken with the Wide Field Channel of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images through a / Bridgeman Images

FLO4620077: Ottoman Turkish Pasha and Bey. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Andrea Bernieri from Giulio Ferrario's Costumes Antique and Modern of All Peoples (Il Costume Antico e Moderno di Tutti i i Popoli), 1843. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4620082: Weapons, musical instruments and gold accessories of the natives of the Gold Coast (Ghana), Africa. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Antonio Sasso from Giulio Ferrario's Ancient and Modern Costumes of all the Peoples of the World, 1843. / Bridgeman Images

FLO4620108: Warriors of the Kongo with weapons and battle instruments (bow, arrow, drum and percussion instrument). Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Antonio Sasso from Giulio Ferrario's Ancient and Modern Costumes of all the Peoples of the World, 1843. / Bridgeman Images

PIX4620132: Omega nebula (M17) in Sagittarius - Omega nebula (M17) in Sagittarius - View of the Omega nebula (M17/ngc 6618) located in the constellation Sagittarius at a distance of 5500 light years / Bridgeman Images

FLO4620137: Natives of the Kingdom of Kongo (Congo) playing various musical instruments and dancing. A gourd-resonated xylophone marimba, a drum ngamba, double bell longa, and two percussion scrapers, kasuto and kilondo. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Antonio Sasso from Giulio Ferrario's Ancient and Modern Costumes of all the Peoples of the World, 1843. / Bridgeman Images