19Nature

Look at it first.

30 PHOTOGRAPHS · NASA + LIBRARY OF CONGRESS + THE METSHOWN UNTREATEDCONTROLS → 20 PLAYGROUND

Earthrise: the Earth half-lit, rising above the grey lunar horizon into black space.

NASA, Earthrise 24 DECEMBER 1968 · APOLLO 8 · AS08-14-2383 · PUBLIC DOMAIN · SHOWN UNTREATED

Human note

The first people to leave Earth's orbit had gone to photograph the Moon. On the fourth pass around it they looked up, and one of them reached for colour film.

Nature makes the wonder. The engine only answers it — and it answers after you have seen the thing.

Von Kármán vortices: spiral cloud eddies streaming downwind of the Aleutian Islands. — **Von Kármán Vortices**NASA · 4 JULY 2002 · LANDSAT 7 · NORTH PACIFIC

Half Dome under storm cloud above sunlit conifers, in near-monochrome. — **Half Dome, Yosemite**CAROL M. HIGHSMITH · 2013 · LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

The Lena Delta from orbit: branching channels spreading across the Siberian coast. — **Lena Delta**NASA · 27 JULY 2000 · LANDSAT 7 · SIBERIA

All four shown as published. Nothing on this screen has been treated yet.

Nature is in this system for the same reason art is: it is what people make things about, and it does not belong to the brand. A photograph earns its place here by holding monumentality, stillness, scale, strangeness, atmosphere, geometric beauty, scientific fascination or the sublime — not by being public domain. Seven of the twenty were demoted on exactly that test, with reasons, in 37 Curation Audit.

Universe19.U

Past the sky.

Twelve images from Hubble, Webb and Cassini: nebulae, galaxies, two planets. Awe first here too. The stage below rests on each picture as published and changes picture through the signature transition, in MILO / OBSERVATORY, the recipe made for the night sky.

Cosmic Cliffs, Carina Nebula: star-forming region, NGC 3324, Carina Nebula, about 7,600 light-years — **Cosmic Cliffs, Carina Nebula**NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team · 2022-07-12 · NASA Media Usage Guidelines · source

Pillars of Creation, Webb NIRCam: star-forming region, Eagle Nebula (M16), about 6,500 light-years — **Pillars of Creation, Webb NIRCam**NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; J. DePasquale, A. Koekemoer, A. Pagan (STScI). · 2022-10-19 · CC BY 4.0 · source

Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex: star-forming region, Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, about 390 light-years — **Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex**NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, K. Pontoppidan (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI) · 2023-07-12 · CC BY 4.0 · source

Stephan's Quintet: galaxies, Stephan's Quintet (HCG 92), Pegasus — **Stephan's Quintet**NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI · 2022-07-12 · CC BY 4.0 · source

Cartwheel Galaxy: galaxy, Cartwheel Galaxy, Sculptor, about 500 million light-years — **Cartwheel Galaxy**NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI · 2022-08-02 · CC BY 4.0 · source

Southern Ring Nebula, Webb NIRCam: planetary nebula, NGC 3132, Vela, about 2,500 light-years — **Southern Ring Nebula, Webb NIRCam**NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and the Webb ERO Production Team · 2022-07-12 · CC BY 4.0 · source

Crab Nebula, Hubble: supernova remnant, Crab Nebula (M1), Taurus, about 6,500 light-years — **Crab Nebula, Hubble**NASA/ESA/JPL/Arizona State Univ. · 2005-12-01 · NASA Media Usage Guidelines · source

Horsehead Nebula in Infrared, Hubble: dark nebula, Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33), Orion, about 1,500 light-years — **Horsehead Nebula in Infrared, Hubble**NASA/ESA/STScI · 2013-04-19 · NASA Media Usage Guidelines · source

Sombrero Galaxy, Hubble: galaxy, Messier 104, Virgo, 28 million light-years — **Sombrero Galaxy, Hubble**NASA/STScI/AURA · 2005-05-05 · Public Domain · source

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300, Hubble: galaxy, NGC 1300, Eridanus — **Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300, Hubble**NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment: P. Knezek (WIYN) · 2017-12-08 · NASA Media Usage Guidelines · source

Saturn and Its Rings from Cassini: planet, Saturn, Cassini orbit, 10 October 2013 — **Saturn and Its Rings from Cassini**NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Cornell · 2013-10-25 · Public Domain · source

Jupiter Portrait from Cassini: planet, Jupiter, Cassini flyby, 29 December 2000 — **Jupiter Portrait from Cassini**NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute · 2003-11-13 · Public Domain · source

Colour in the telescope images is the agencies' own rendering of infrared and visible light. The Webb images are CC BY 4.0 (ESA/Webb) and carry their credit line wherever they appear; the NASA images follow NASA's media guidelines. Every record, with its rights check, is in assets/universe/manifest.json.

Compare19.01

Treatment

Strength0.70

Grain0.05

Contrast1.20

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Three parameters, on purpose. Matrix, palette, posterisation, registration and the transition scrub live in 20 Playground.

Collection19.02