The Inedited Image of An Atom

This image shocked me and those who loves science, a student called David Nadlinger from U.S , Oxford University toke a pic of atom as you can see below. He studies physics and won a picture prize of science pics in UK.

The image shows a positively charged strontium atom illuminated by a blue-violet light on a black background. The atom is held, almost unmoved, by a magnetic field emanating from two metal electrodes on the left and right sides of the photo.

It's what scientists call an "ion trap," a technique used in laboratories that study the most basic properties of quantum physics. The distance between each metal needle tip that is seen in the center of the image is only 1/8 of an inch.

We can only see the atom in the image because it is absorbing and repelling a laser light at a speed that can only be captured by a long exposure from the camera. That is, the "pale blue dot" in the center of the photo is not the exact outline of the atom, but the reflection of the light striking it. But in the end, every photograph is no more than the record of light reflecting on a surface, anyway.

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