December Gallery

Solar prominence

Solar prominence. Ultraviolet SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) satellite image of a solar prominence (bottom left). The prominence is erupting from the chromosphere (orange), which lies above the Sun's visible surface. Prominences are dense clouds of plasma, or ionised gas, in the Sun's outer layer, the corona. They are typically at temperatures of 60, 000 Kelvin, much cooler than the several million Kelvin of the corona. Active regions (white) mark areas of high solar activity. The Sun's activity peaks every 10-11 years. Image produced by SOHO's Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT)

© NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

21 Dec 2002

© PA Archive/Press Association Images

Antonov An-225 in flight, Worlds largest plane

Ukrainian Dream in flight. The prototype of the Antonov An-225 aircraft seen during its maiden flight. The An-225, called the Mriya ('Dream'), is by far the World's largest aircraft. The maximum take-off weight of the An-225 is 600 tonnes, including up to 200 tonnes of cargo. It is powered by six turbofan jet engines, allowing it to take off within a distance of only 1, 000 metres. Mriya was designed to be able to carry the Russian space shuttle Buran on its back, ferrying it between its landing site and launch site. The first flight of the An-225 took place at Kiev on 21 December 1988

© RIA NOVOSTI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY