The fractal surface of a strange attractor

Phase portrait and time series of the Moore-Spiegel Attractor

Ikeda Attractor by Paul Bourke

A Lorenz attractor by Nathan Selikoff, titled "Butterfly Effect."

A strange attractor by Nathan Selikoff resembling the Eagle Nebula.

A strange attractor by Nathan Selikoff.

This is probably the most important image in Chaos theory- of the Lorenz attractor. It is an illustration of what many people know as the butterfly effect- the concept that a slight change could result in a hugely different outcome.

The image corresponds to the function in three dimensions of two different variables that differ by a very small amount.