Hubble spots a “celestial snow angel”. (Courtesy: NASA)
By Hamish Johnston
Things are winding down for the holidays here at Physics World headquarters and staff are looking forward to a well-earned Christmas break.
While we are catching up with family and friends, there’s plenty to keep you amused over the holiday period – including this fantastic Hubble Space Telescope image of Sharpless 2-106. Experts will tell you that this is a “bipolar star-forming region”, but at Christmas time it becomes a “celestial snow angel” – at least according to NASA.
Back on Earth, don’t miss our top 10 breakthroughs of 2011. This year’s top slot went to Aephraim Steinberg and colleagues at the Universe of Toronto for their work on the fundamentals of quantum mechanics. We’ve also put together a special podcast counting down our top 10 physics books from the last 12 months.
You can also enjoy a selection of the most stunning pictures of 2011, our favourite videos and a collection of the quirky stories that made us laugh throughout the year.
If you fancy testing your knowledge of they year’s physics events, enter our Quiz of the year 2011 and you could win £100.
Finally, there’s our look forward to 2012, a year that promises so much – thanks in part to the tantalizing announcement last week by physicists working on the Large Hadron Collider.
See you all in the new year, and thanks for your dedicated interest throughout 2011.
