The best scientific images of 2023, according to Nature – 12/13/2023 – Science

The image above, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, is one of those selected by journalists from the scientific magazine Nature among the best scientific images of 2023.

The photo shows stars forming in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest place to Earth where they are born.

According to a Nature journalist, the ethereal texture of the photo evokes works by impressionist painters such as the Frenchman Claude Monet.

Jets of hydrogen gas (in red) emerge from young stars. The glowing “cave” below is formed by stellar winds blown by a young star.

The image above of melting ice emanating from the Austfonna mantle on Norway’s Arctic island of Nordaustlandet won the Nature category in the drone photography competition, Drone Photo Awards 2023.

“I’ve visited this place several times, but last year it was disheartening to witness the sea ice melt in June,” says photographer Thomas Vijayan.

An argonaut, a species of mollusk, moves on a stick in the darkness of the Pacific Ocean, in the Philippines, in the photo above.

The animal is surrounded by sediment from a volcanic eruption that shines in the camera light.

Photographer Alkis Konstantinidis captured the compassionate moment above as wildfires raged through the Greek city of Hasia in August.

Amid the fog and smoke from the fire, two volunteers give water to a sheep rescued from a burning farm.

The sharp edges of the sugar water syrup. The mixture is not always viscous. Crystallized and viewed under a polarized light microscope and magnified 25 times, the substance’s spiky, layered structure is revealed.

This counterintuitive image, featured above, was featured in the 2023 Nikon Small World photomicrograph competition.

Scientist Brian Swift worked on one of those photos to produce this high-contrast version, which highlights a swirl of cyclones.

A lone house remains standing in Lahaina, Hawaii, surrounded by the charred remains of the neighborhood.

With its volcanic landscapes, Hawaii is no stranger to natural disasters, but wildfires on the island of Maui earlier this year caught many by surprise.

This panoramic photo highlights the magnitude of the devastation in the most affected urban areas.

The enormous snake-shaped solar filament above was captured by astrophotographer Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau and won the Our Sun category of the 2023 Astronomical Photographer of the Year contest.

The filaments are made of plasma that projects from the Sun’s surface, shaped by magnetic fields.

The image above is one of the winning photos in the Astronomical Photographer of the Year 2023 competition.

According to a journalist from Nature magazine, the image “conveys some of the disturbing feelings we have all experienced over the past year.”

“In the midst of earthquakes, floods, wars, growing inequalities and a growing climate emergency, it is tempting to hide in a comforting emotional ‘fog’, away from the world,” he adds.

“It remains to be seen whether we will emerge from the fog or sink into it.”

The volcano is full of cameras and instruments that measure ground deformation and seismic activity.



As Earth’s natural resources dwindle, wild species must find new ways to survive, says one of Nature’s editors.

These elephants in Ampara, Sri Lanka, are forced to forage for food in landfills because much of their habitat has been lost.

They and other animals can get sick or die if they ingest too much plastic.

The country has banned some single-use plastics, but without sufficient natural habitat, human-elephant conflicts near wildlife reserves will continue.

“After researching many images of coral bleaching for stories this year, it was a breath of fresh air to see such a beautiful, pristine reef photographed in such a spectacular way,” noted one of Nature’s editors.