October Gallery

Steve Bull

Steve Bull of Wolves shoots for goal

© EMPICS Sport/PA Photos

Mariner 10 mosaic of Mercury

Mercury. Mariner 10 spacecraft mosaic image of Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun. Areas for which data is missing are blank. The surface of Mercury is heavily cratered due to impacts from meteorites. It also has lines of cliffs which are up to 3 kilometres (km) high and 500 km long. These escarpments may have been formed by the planet's crust wrinkling as the core cooled and contracted billions of years ago. The surface rocks are generally dark and a poor reflector of sunlight. Mercury has about the density as Earth, though it has only about 5% of the volume and mass of our planet. The Mariner 10 spacecraft imaged Mercury on three flybys during 1974-75

© US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Enhanced image of Triceratops dinosaur skulls

Triceratops. Computer enhanced image of fossilised skulls of a Triceratops dinosaur. Triceratops ("three-horned face") was a herbivore that had skulls which were up to 2 metres long. The skull was this dinosaur's main defence against predators due to the three horns (2 over the eye sockets and one on the nose), and a bony frill that protected the neck. This powerful and heavily-built dinosaur was a formidable opponent for any predator. The frill had slots where large muscles for powering the creature's beak-like jaw were attached. Triceratops evolved only a few million years before dinosaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period (about 65 million years ago)

© MEHAU KULYK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY