Every astronomy buff is familiar with the Horsehead nebula in the constellation Orion 鈥� a dark, dense molecular cloud in the shape of an equine head and neck, silhouetted against the fiery light of ionised hydrogen gas. The optical effect is completed by the less often appreciated 鈥渕ane鈥� behind the horse鈥檚 head (pictured right).
The mane is a cloud of cold gas, mostly hydrogen, that is fluorescing. Since this fluorescence is red, used a red filter to take this photograph. He then applied 鈥渦nsharp masking鈥� which, belying its name, increases image sharpness by bringing forth features that are otherwise too faint to see. The 1500-year-old light from the nebula was collected using the in New South Wales, Australia.
Malin鈥檚 innovative techniques and extraordinarily long exposure times 鈥� some as long as an hour 鈥� have created images of galaxies and nebulae that reveal their hidden details, and have furthered our understanding of the universe. He has helped identify two new types of galaxies 鈥� shell and proto-galaxies 鈥� among the faintest objects ever detected by a ground-based telescope.
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Formerly a photographic scientist and astronomer at the , Malin won the prestigious prize in September 2000 for his pioneering photography.
You can find this and other photographs in
Phaidon Press
