Supernova or coronavirus: can you tell the difference?

A scientist finds beauty in the “visual synonyms” that exist in images seen through microscopes and telescopes.

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For Kim Arcand, visualization scientist For NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, visual symmetry reveals how fundamental physics and chemistry flow through everything in the universe, from the smallest organisms to the most massive galactic clusters.

< p id="scrolly- 2" data-credit="" class="css-1e80sr1 scrolly-text-1">Microscopes could capture more in terms of magnitude, she said, but telescopes allow us to travel in time by examining the first periods of our universe. .

Can you tell the difference between microscopic and massive?

Red The swirls on this rabbit's tongue are threadlike papillae, which roughen the tongue and help move food around the mouth. With blue connective tissue and purple muscle fibers, the striped structure recalls…

… the gas giant Jupiter. The planet's rotation gives rise to the Coriolis effect, which deflects airflow and determines the direction of its swirling cyclones and bands.

These clusters of Raji cells, which can cause a strain of herpes in humans, look like…

… the agitated surface of the sun. Dark spots are cooler than surrounding areas; they appear where the star's magnetic field prevents heat from emerging.

Purple and white spike proteins on this popular model of the coronavirus help it attach to and enter our cells. These might remind you…

… the clumps of cosmic debris in Tycho's supernova , a star that could have exploded in several points simultaneously.