Islands in Infinity

Derek Ward-Thompson (MA, PhD, FRAS) is director of the Jeremiah Horrocks Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy, and head of the School of Physical Sciences and Computing at the University of Lancashire. Ward-Thompson’s research interests lie in the fields of the formation of stars and planets, as well as in the environments surrounding black holes. He supervises undergraduate projects, as well as post-graduate MSc and PhD students. His textbook, An Introduction to Star Formation, won an Outstanding Academic Title of 2012 from the American Library Association magazine ‘Choice’.Sir Brian May (CBE, PhD, ARCS, FRAS) is a founding member of the rock group Queen, a world-renowned guitarist, songwriter, producer, performer, 3-D photographic authority, author, publisher, and passionate campaigner for animal rights. A graduate of Imperial College London, May started a PhD in astrophysics but in 1974 music took over, and it was not until 2006 that he was able to complete his studies at Imperial and was awarded his PhD in 2007. Since then, he has co-written five astronomy books and has worked with NASA, ESA, and JAXA, providing 3-D imaging for numerous current space missions.J-P MetsÄvainio is a Finnish visual artist and impassioned astronomical photographer who uses scientific and computational tools and methods to reveal the nocturnal world of wonders. To satisfy his endless curiosity, he developed a method to turn any cosmic photograph into a realistic 3-D image. In his work, art meets science in a most beautiful way. He created the 3-D astronomical images for a previous collaboration with Brian May and David J. Eicher: Cosmic Clouds 3-D (2020).