Stars Galaxies and Cosmology The Astronomical Art of Don Dixon

Globular clusters may the cores of galaxies that were disrupted by tidal interactions. Dozens of them swarm like bees about the core of the Milky Way ; acrylic on board, 1977. © Don Dixon 2007

Our Galaxy. Stylized view of the Milky Way as seen from 100,000 light years. Acrylic on illustration board, 1988.

Quasar Jet

intense jets of energy burst from the core of an active galaxy in this June, 1998 Scientific American cover - painting by Don Dixon

Quantum Foam

an allegorical image based on the premise that our universe sprang from a quantum fluctuation in the cosmic vacuum - painting by Don Dixon

Big Bang

A two dimensional portrayal of the Big Bang. Distance from the bright core represents increasing time. painting by Don Dixon

Dark Energy

mysterious energy causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate, cover, January 1999, Scientific American - painting by Don Dixon

Cosmic Expansion Event Horizon

diagram showing how the expansion of the universe ultimately prevents contact between two points because the speed of light is finite - painting by Don Dixon for Scientific American

Campanas Survey Diagray

Volume of Universe Explored by Campanas Survey - digital painting for Scientific American, © Don Dixon

Evolution of Cosmic Structure

Large Scale Structure of Universe - painting by Don Dixon for Scientific American

Evolution of Stars Diagram

Evolution of Galaxies, the Solar System, Stars and the Universe - painting by Don Dixon for Smithsonian Institution, © Don Dixon

Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) - painting by Don Dixon for Scientific American

Microwave Anisotropy Probe Diagram

orbital diagram; Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) - painting by Don Dixon for Scientific American

Quintessence

Quintessence, an energy that pervades space-time, may regulate the expansion of the universe - painting by Don Dixon for Scientific American

The Galactic Atmosphere

Even the galaxy has a kind of weather, in which fountains of tenuous gas arch high above the galactic plain through vents blasted by supernova explosions - painting for Scientific American, © Don Dixon

Starbirth and Death diagram

Created in collaboration with Bryan Christie, this diagram illustrates a kind of cosmic ecology. Radiation from bright stars and violently ejected gases from supernovae replenish and compress interstellar clouds of gas and dust, leading to the formation of new stars - painting by Don Dixon for Scientific American, © Don Dixon

Proto Galaxies Form

Protogalaxies form within filamentary clouds of matter in the early universe.

Universe Time Line

History of the universe in four stages: the Big Bang is marked by the left vertex, followed by a million-year dark age until the first stars form at the intersection of huge filaments of primordial hydrogen. A period of intense star formation and violent explosions lays the foundation for the universe we see today. - painting by Don Dixon for Scientific American

Dark Matter Halo

This diagram created for the March, 2003 issue of Scientific American suggests the immense halo of mysterious dark matter that many astrophysicists believe surrounds our galaxy. The visible stars and gases of the Milky Way contribute less than ten percent of its total mass.

Constellation Orion in 3D

The stars delineating the constellation Orion are dispersed across nearly 2,000 light years in this 3D representation. Digital, 2003. © by Don Dixon.

Cosmic Inflation

In the theory of cosmic inflation, the universe expands from the size of an atomic nucleus to a baseball in a tiny fraction of a second. Digital, 2005 © by Don Dixon.

The Most Ancient Stars

The most ancient stars in the universe may provide clues to its evolution. This montage, suggesting the formation of stars and galaxies out of the Big Bang, was the June, 2005 cover for "Astronomy" magazine.

Cosmic Brane

Some scientists speculate that, if microscopic black holes can be formed by the Large Hadron Collider, they may bridge the hyperdimensional gap between "branes" , demonstrating the existence of other universes. Digital, 2005, for Scientific American. © Don Dixon

Cat Eye Nebula

The strange and beautiful shapes of planetary nebulae, like the Cat's Eye, form through complex interactions between stellar winds and magnetic fields. Digital, 2004, for Scientific American. © 2005 by Don Dixon.

Hubble Ultra Deep Field Diagram

Diagram showing the very small part of the sky that was surveyed in the Hubble Space Telescope's Ultra Deep Field project. Digital diagram © Popular Mechanics, 2004.

The Cosmic Dark Ages

Although the early universe was immensely hot, it was dark, because photons were not able to travel through the highly-ionized gas. In this diagram of cosmic evolution, the upper left represents the cosmic dark age. Proceeding toward the lower right, the universe cools, atoms form, and filamentary structures condense to form galaxy clusters. © Don Dixon 2005.

Hypernova

Gamma rays burst from either pole of a shattered star undergoing a hypernova explosion. © Don Dixon, 2005.

Lonely Universe Diagram

The universe becomes very lonely as dark energy pushes most of it beyond our horizon. Diagram for Scientific American, 2004. © Don Dixon

Ancient Globular Cluster and asteroid

Strange clusters that seem to be a cross between open and globular clusters harbor stars that may provide clues to the evolution of the early universe. Cover for Astronomy, May 2005.

Type 2 Supernova Diagram

Diagram for Scientific American shows steps in a celestial cataclysm. As the nuclear reaction within a giant star's core falters, the core collapses, triggering an intensely energetic rebound that shatters the star. Artwork © 2007 Don Dixon / cosmographica.com

Type 1 Supernova Diagram

Diagram for Scientific American shows second type of supernova. Gas captured from a close companion star accumulates on the surface of a white dwarf star. The added pressure creates turbulence in the star's core and triggers a thermonuclear explosion. Artwork © 2007 Don Dixon / cosmographica.com

Formation of Brown Dwarf

A brown dwarf star shines within its accretion disk. Streams of ionized dust and gas are drawn to the forming star by its magnetic field. Digital illustration for Scientific American © 2007 Don Dixon / cosmographica.com

Milky Way Diagram

Lonely Galaxy

Many billions of years in the future, the Milky Way will be alone in the observable universe, as all the local galaxies merge and the more distant ones recede beyond our ability to detect.

Sun and Ealy Star Compared

The first stars, formed perhaps only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, were much more massive than our sun and much shorter lived, exploding as supernovae after shining for only a few million years.

Supernova

Mountain ranges melt on the outer planet of a star that has gone supernova. Even before the wave of ejecta from the exploding star reaches the planet, the unimaginably intense radiation has turned the world's crust molten.

Dusty halo around white dwarf star

A white dwarf star is surrounded by a dusty halo of shattered planets, asteroids, and comets.

Galactic Star Streams

Streams of stars orbiting outside the plane of the Milky Way are thought to be the remains of small galaxies that were disrupted by tidal interactions and which are being assimilated into our own. Digital artwork © 2007 Don Dixon / cosmographica.com

Evolution of stars, planets, and brown dwarfs

Galaxy Rising

a spiral galaxy rises gracefully in the sky of an alien world. cover of "Mountain Astrologer";acrylic and goauche and digital;1983/2006; copyright Don Dixon / cosmographica.com

Milky Way Rising over an extragalactic planet; Originally Spacescapes Number 60, this early gouache on illustration board painting shows our galaxy in the sky of an alien world high above the galactic pole; 1974 by Don Dixon.

Orion Nebula - an earthlike world, child of one of the young stars in the Great Nebula in Orion, floats near the outskirts of this stellar nursery. Acrylic and gouache, 1974. Painting © by Don Dixon.

Solar System Stellar Neighborhood

The Sun's Neighbors -geography of the Milky Way Galaxy. Our sun orbits about 30,000 light years from the center of the galaxy, which contains approximately 400 billion stars. Astronomers currently know of only about a dozen stars within 10 light years of the Sun (inset cube). The large rectangle encompasses a region of about 10,000 light years. Digital, for Scientific American, 2009. copyright Don Dixon

Universe in Hand Inflation Graphic

503 - Universe in Hand — The universe is shown when it was only 10 centimeters in diameter, 10^-32 seconds after the Big Bang during the inflation era. Cover for Astronomy magazine, March 2016. Digital art by Don Dixon.

Thorne-Zytkow Object

Solar System

Landscapes