Visions of the Universe

This exhibition, on display in the aptly named Stockwood Discovery Centre till the 8th of June shows some amazing images from a variety of sources that add to our knowledge and understanding of our place in the vast wilderness of Space; although many of the images are obtained from sources other than by photography in the accepted form, they are beautiful art in their own right. Many have been created in false colour to differentiate what they show, but despite this scientific basis they can also be judged by their pure aesthetics.

When you see some of the drawings of earlier scientists obtained laboriously over often many days with comparatively crude equipment by today’s standards, you cannot fail to be amazed by their tenacity, patience and artistic skill to which they apply their intellect. There are examples of sketches that were made set beside today’s technology-created imagery and you can only marvel at the accuracy they achieved.

I visited with fellow photographer Colin Bowles, and both of us were reading items out and recounting our own recollections of when some of the more recent discoveries were made and where we were at the time. I hope the schools make every effort to bring students to view what is displayed here, so they can better appreciate what we now know of the Universe in which the Earth, the planet we inhabit, is a mere speck of cosmic dust.