Once upon a time the illustrations in physics and astronomy papers were mostly line diagrams, plus the occasional black and white photograph, but advances in imaging technology and computer power mean that some results now resemble works of art. Here we examine three images that have been so widely used on the covers of books and magazines - and on posters, calendars, mouse-mats and elsewhere - that they qualify for some sort of iconic status
This image of Eagle Nebula has appeared on numerous magazine covers and posters, and was one of four images chosen for a special set of US stamps to mark the 10th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Eagle nebula (1367kb pdf file)
Quantum mechanics is very difficult to illustrate, which could be why this image of entangled photons has proved so popular. Entangled photons (1161kb pdf file)
Since it first appeared on the cover of Nature in February 2000, the “quantum mirage” has featured on posters, calendars, websites and the covers of various books and magazines.
Quantum mirage (369kb pdf file)
