random collections

Best scientific visualizations

Selection criteria

  1. Self-explanatory: (almost) no additional caption needed to understand the visualization.
  2. Human-made: telescope images and nature photography are not allowed. Simulation images are allowed.
  3. Interesting: the visualization is not just a pretty picture or a schematic illustration.
  4. Beautiful: the visualization is aesthetically pleasing.

Send candidate submissions to my e-mail.

luminet-bh Image of a spherical black hole with thin accretion disk, J.P. Luminet, 1979.

sdss-map Galaxies out to around 2 billion lightyears away. Figure Credit: M. Blanton and SDSS.

solar-spectrum High-resolution spectrum of the Sun 4000 to 7000 angstroms. Courtesy of N.A.Sharp, NOAO/NSO/Kitt Peak FTS/AURA/NSF.

trouvelot-sunspots Group of sun spots and veiled spots. Observed on June 17th 1875 at 7 h. 30 m. A.M. (Plate I from The Trouvelot Astronomical Drawings 1881), E.L. Trouvelot, 1881.

bh-reconnection General-relativistic collisionless plasma simulation showing the density of positrons near the event horizon of a rotating black hole. Kyle Parfrey, Alexander Philippov, and Benoît Cerutti, 2019.

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