{"id":21266,"date":"2022-12-22T16:58:44","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T15:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=21266"},"modified":"2023-01-03T11:21:50","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T10:21:50","slug":"the-best-science-images-of-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/2022\/12\/22\/the-best-science-images-of-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"The best science images of 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

THE BEST SCIENCE IMAGES OF 2022<\/h1>\n\n

WHEN IT COMES TO PHOTOGRAPHY, THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE STOLE THE SHOW, WITH VISUALS THAT REMINDED US WHAT AN OUTRAGEOUSLY BEAUTIFUL PLACE THE UNIVERSE CAN BE. BUT TO TELL THE TRUTH, OVER THE LAST 12 MONTHS THERE WAS NO SHORTAGE OF MIND-BLOWING IMAGES THAT CHANGED OUR PERSPECTIVES. HERE\u2019S OUR SELECTION OF THE BEST, AND WHAT THEY TAUGHT US\u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

by HAYLEY BENNETT <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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ALAMY <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Window on the Universe <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

LONDON, UK 12 JULY <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

This stunning image beamed to Earth by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reveals details of far-flung regions of the Milky Way that we\u2019ve never seen before. Launched on Christmas Day 2021, from a spaceport in French Guiana, the JWST is the largest telescope ever sent into space. It uses infrared light to show us stars that were previously obscured from view by dust. Its first images, broadcast here to crowds in Piccadilly Circus, London, show the edge of a star-forming region around 7,600 light-years from Earth, in the Carina Nebula, which is home to stars millions of times brighter than our Sun.<\/p>\n\n

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ESO<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Hole at the heart of the Galaxy <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE 12 MAY <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

You would have thought if there was a supermassive black hole at the centre of the Galaxy, we\u2019d have noticed it before. But that\u2019s the thing about black holes: you can\u2019t see them. You can only see the gas whirling around them. The one at the centre of the Milky Way, named Sagittarius A*, is around 27,000 light-years away from Earth and we only found it by training eight radio telescopes on it all at the same time. It took 300 researchers and their supercomputers five years to analyse the data they collected before they could finally release this first portrait of the previously unseen object. <\/p>\n\n

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FALKLANDS MARITIME HERITAGE TRUST<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Shackleton\u2019s lost ship <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

WEDDELL SEA 5 <\/strong>MARCH <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

In 1915, the 28-strong crew of Ernest Shackleton\u2019s Endurance <\/em>found themselves stranded as the explorer\u2019s ship hit pack ice off the coast of Antarctica. Their 1,300km expedition to safety \u2013 involving death-defying journeys on small lifeboats \u2013 is a tale as harrowing as it is inspiring. So it\u2019s no wonder that the discovery of their lost ship (pictured here from the stern) reignited interest in the story. After a previous failed attempt in 2019, Endurance <\/em>was finally located 3km down and intact by a team working with autonomous and remotely operated vehicles from a polar research vessel. Icy currents had caused it to drift, but ultimately it lay just 6km from its last known position recorded over a century earlier. <\/p>\n\n