Images Dated 9th March 1998

The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds

The Magellanic Clouds. Optical image of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC, left) and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). They are small galaxies in orbit around our own galaxy, the Milky Way. LMC is at a distance of about 160, 000 light years from the Earth and its mass is estimated to be some 10 billion times the mass of the Sun. The SMC is about one billion times the mass of the Sun and lies at a distance of about 185, 000 light years. Stars in the LMC and SMC are generally younger than the stars in our galaxy and gas and dust are more plentiful in them than in the Milky Way. The bright "star" to the right of the SMC is actually the 47 Tucanae globular star cluster

© DR FRED ESPENAK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Insect fossilised in amber

Insect in amber. Fossilized insect embedded in amber. Amber is fossilized resin that was produced by various now extinct coniferous trees during the Jurassic period. The sticky resin trapped small insects as it solidified and hardened, preserving their bodies for millions of years. This is one of the few processes by which fossils are preserved complete with all of their soft tissues. Various types of insect are preserved, including bees, wasps and ants (Order: Hymenoptera), and flies and mosquitoes (Order: Diptera). Many of these species are now extinct. This amber came from the Southern coast of the Baltic Sea

© VAUGHAN FLEMING/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) Rest after Spring Migration across Gulf, LA, Louisiana

© Lockwood, C.C. / Animals Animals/Earth Scenes

Aa Photographer, Action, Adult, Age, America, Animal, Animalia, Aves, Bird, Botany, Branch, Branches, C C Lockwood, Cc Lockwood, Chordata, Color, Colour, Fringillidae, Gender, Individual, La, Location, Lockwood, Louisiana, Male, North America, Number, Out Side, Outdoor, Outdoors, Passeriformes, Perch, Perched, Perching, Perching Bird, Piranga, Piranga Olivacea, Plant Detail, Red, Scarlet Tanager, Single, Song Bird, Tanager, United States, United States Of America, Us A, Vertebrata, Wild Life