The Annie Maunder Open Category

"The image uses data of gravitational lensing [the magnification of distant galaxies by bending light through massive foreground objects] from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and combines it with a photograph that I took of the inside of a meteorite," explains Leonardo.

"Patterns are formed inside some meteorites through the extremely slow cooling of metal alloys over millions of years. This particular pattern has an incredible geometric design, looking almost like the edges of boxes or buildings in a city. Some images produced by JWST, if processed a certain way, would have a very similar look due to the star diffraction spikes. This piece can be imagined as an alien ship, city, dimension or anything in between, with the distorted galaxies on the right giving a sense of movement and surreal science-fiction symbolism.

"Both images have been converted to black and white and merged, with the opacity of the meteorite layer set low to allow the JWST data to still bleed through and to produce a surreal hazy look."

Original data from JWST, NIRCam, Near-Infrared, NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI from 12 July 2022. 

Data credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STSc

"The data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observer (SDO) probe was used here to show the Sun’s inner corona in a way that hints at a process that is similar to that which energises colourful neon lights on Earth," Peter explains.

"Images taken by the SDO in the ultraviolet spectrum (at 171, 193 and 304 nm) were re-mapped to a more vibrant palette, with the same coronal data turned ‘inside out’ to surround the Sun, creating the illusion of it being enclosed in a neon tube.

"While neon tubes use electrical current to cause the low-pressure gas within them to glow, it is the heat from nuclear fusion that ionises the gas of the Sun’s atmosphere. While this ultraviolet light is undetectable to human eyes, it can easily cause sunburn on unprotected human skin within just a few minutes of exposure. Re-mapped in Photoshop, the data was then polar inversed to mirror the inner coronal image. Colour saturation was increased by around 30 per cent and given one pass of a noise reduction filter."

Original data from NASA SDO 171, 193, 304 nanometre from 1 June 2024

Data credit: NASA

"This image of the Pillars of Creation is from raw data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)," says Hassan.

"Aside from the colours, the details are different to other images of this recognisable structure; some elements that are less obvious in other images are seen more clearly here. The data is the same, but I’ve varied the combination of bands — each corresponding to a different part of the infrared spectrum. The resulting image shows us how amazing the electromagnetic spectrum is and the tremendous impact it has on how we see the world.

"The raw data from JWST was captured in various bands. I carefully examined the details of each and tested different combinations of between two and nine datasets. In the end, I combined F444W (4.44 µm [micrometre], revealing cooler dust and galaxies), F200W (2.00 µm, showing deeper infrared detail) and F090W (0.90 µm, highlighting hotter or younger stars). The result was interesting – a beautiful image with distinct details, especially those of the teal-green bubble in the middle of the pillars."

Original data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NIRcam, F444W, F200W, F090W, NASA-ESA-CSA/ STScl-JWST from 2022

Data credit: NASA-ESA-CSA/ STScl-JWST