November Gallery

Male dummy showing acupuncture meridians & points

Acupuncture dummy. Front view of a male acupuncture dummy showing meridians and acupuncture points. There are twelve main meridians (coloured lines) connected to each other on a continuous circuit around the body. On each meridian are acupuncture points (coloured dots). Acupuncture was developed in China on the theory that Qi (life force) flows along the meridians (channels). Each of the meridians also connects through internal pathways with one of the internal organs. Diseases are considered to be due to interrupted Qi along the meridians. Insertion and twirling of needles at the acupuncture points is believed to restore normal flow

© DAMIEN LOVEGROVE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

23 Nov 2002

© PA Archive/Press Association Images

Milky Way

Milky Way. Mosaic of photographs of the Milky Way, the spiral galaxy in which our solar system lies. Our Sun is believed to be around two-thirds of the way out from the centre in a small spiral arm. Galactic Centre lies at the centre of the image in the constellation Sagittarius. This is where the bulge of stars in the Milky Way is at its greatest, tapering away on either side. The image runs around the whole of the sky, so our view away from Galactic Centre is seen both at far left and at far right. Interstellar dust obscures much of the Galaxy's central axis. The Milky Way is thought to be about 120, 000 light years across and to contain over 100 billion stars

© ECKHARD SLAWIK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY