Ph.D. astronomer, Queen guitarist, and Astronomy Editorial Advisory Board member Brian May sent some 3-D images of Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4) the other day. These are absolutely incredible and will blow your mind when you see them in the right way.
You may know that Brian is very much into stereo photography (see “Brian May’s world of stereo astro imaging,” Astronomy, January 2012) and he has produced these very cool shots with images taken by a number of astroimagers. You can view them by relaxing your eyes, at the right distance, until the images blend together and you see the comet floating in front of the starry background.
You can also use an OWL viewer to do this properly, without having to defocus your eyes. See the London Stereoscopic Co. website for more info on OWL viewers (which were designed by Brian) and on astronomical 3-D photo sets. (Hey, you might want some of the 3-D Queen shots taken by Brian and others, too.)
This impressive picture shows PANSTARRS with a wide fan-shaped tail and was shot by Ignacio Diaz Bobillo in mid-February 2013.
Enjoy!