Lynette Cook ~ Astronomicals II

Brown dwarfs are "failed" stars - worlds more massive than gas giant planets but not massive enough to begin nuclear fusion.

Quasar

A quasar is one of the most luminous and distant types of objects in the universe. This active galaxy has two jets of hot gas.

Child of the Cosmos

We are children of the cosmos. Many of the materials that make up our bodies were once forged in stars.

Human Journey

This conceptual piece portrays the development of the human species from the time of Early Man (as shown by the cave paintings at the bottom) to the technologically advanced modern human that can travel in space and land on other worlds.

White Dwarf in the Galactic Halo

A team led by Ben Oppenheimer has detected 38 cool white dwarfs in the galactic halo. These stars may comprise a large portion of the dark matter in the Milky Way. Their existence also challenges current theories about star and galaxy formation.
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Starry Nights at Lick

Perched on top of Mt. Hamilton, California, Lick Observatory has a magnificent view of the heavens. Leading-edge research is conducted here on a variety of astronomical subjects, including the study of extrasolar planets. Several of the planets known outside our solar system have been discovered at Lick.

SOFIA

SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is a joint program of NASA and the German Aerospace Center. It will be the largest airborne telescope in the world when operations begin in about 2010. The airplane is shown here with the type of astronomical objects it will study: the Milky Way, nebulae such as the Orion Nebula, star-forming regions, supernova, comets, planets, planetary disks, galaxies, and carbon-based molecules.