The Milky Way in spellbinding detail and more — January’s best science images

Galactic panorama. A stunning composite image reveals more than three billion objects in the Milky Way, including many previously unknown stars, nebulae and clouds of dust and gas. It was produced by the Dark Energy Camera at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, using data from two years of observations of the plane of the Milky Way as seen from the Southern Hemisphere. The image comprises 10 terabytes of data from 21,400 individual exposures. Researchers plan to combine it with data from other survey telescopes to produce a 360-degree panoramic view of the Galactic disk.

A brisk walk. A vast winter storm known as a bomb cyclone struck swathes of the northern United States and Canada over the holiday season, disrupting travel plans for millions of people and stranding many inside their homes. A blizzard left these houses in Fort Erie, Canada, coated in thick ice and knocked out power supplies for thousands of residents. The bomb cyclone, which was more than 3,000 kilometres wide, was caused by cold Arctic winds — the polar vortex — moving south.

Lava lake. Hawaii’s youngest and most active volcano, Kīlauea, began erupting on 5 January, creating a pool of lava in the Halemaʻumaʻu crater — seen in this shot taken by a US Geological Survey surveillance camera. The volcano has been erupting sporadically since 2018, when a months-long lava flow destroyed hundreds of homes.

A taste for flesh. Two unfortunate salamanders have fallen victim to a carnivorous northern pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea). The picture was the overall winner of the Close-up Photographer of the Year competition. Pitcher plants grow in nutrient-poor soils and usually feed on insects and other small invertebrates, trapping them in jug-shaped leaves. But this population of plants in Algonquin Provincial Park, Canada, regularly consumes vertebrate prey.  “On the day I made this image, I was following researchers on their daily surveys of the plants,” says photographer Samantha Stephens. “When I saw a pitcher that had two salamanders, both at the same stage of decay floating at the surface of the pitcher’s fluid, I knew it was a special and fleeting moment.”

Wandering walrus. An Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) nicknamed Thor drew crowds in Scarborough, UK, when it rested in the harbour on New Year’s Eve. A cordon was put in place and town authorities cancelled a fireworks display to allow the animal to sleep. It is thought to be the first sighting of a walrus in Yorkshire — the animals’ usual range is much further north, although they occasionally venture into warmer waters. Thor had been spotted even further south, in Hampshire, earlier in December, and another male called Wally hauled out on several British beaches in 2021.

Moon crater. This shot of the Tycho Crater is one the most detailed images of the lunar surface to be captured from Earth. It was taken by the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia using the prototype of a next-generation planetary radar system that could be used to study and track objects in the Solar System, including near-Earth asteroids.

Been a while, crocodile. The remains of ten crocodile mummies that had lain undisturbed for centuries were found in an ancient Egyptian tomb underneath a Byzantine-era rubbish dump. The linen bandages that would have wrapped the bodies had been eaten away by insects, allowing the researchers to identify two species — Crocodylus niloticus and Crocodylus suchus. Egyptologists say that the mummies’ presence offers insight into how ancient Egyptians might characterize the animals’ role in the afterlife.

Precious cargo. A weedy seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) carries bright pink eggs under its tail. These unusual-looking fish are related to seahorses, and it is the male that carries and cares for the eggs before they hatch, usually for about a month. This snap, taken off the southeast coast of Australia, won the Compact Behaviour category at the 2022 Ocean Art underwater-photography competition.

He’ll be back. This tiny shape-shifting metal ‘robot’ can escape from a cage by melting and re-forming on command. It is made from microscopic particles of a magnetic material mixed with gallium, a metal that is liquid at 35 °C. Applying magnetic fields at alternating currents increases the robot’s temperature enough for it to melt. Once transformed, it can be steered through the bars of its cage using more magnets, and cooled to room temperature to restore its solid form. Its creators say such materials could be used in flexible electronics, health care and robotics.