Images Dated 11th December 2003

Optical image of the North America nebula

North America nebula. True-colour optical image of the North America nebula (NGC 7000). This large nebula is about 3000 light years away, and lies in the constellation Cygnus. It is composed mainly of hydrogen gas, which glows due to ionisation by radiation from a young, hot and massive star at the nebula's heart. Hot massive stars live for a relatively short time, so such nebulae are usually of recent origin. The North America nebula is believed to be around 10 million years old. To the right of this nebula is part of the Pelican nebula (IC 5067-5070). This image was produced by digitally combining photographs taken by the Palomar Schmidt Telescope in blue and red light

© CELESTIAL IMAGE CO./SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Artwork of stages in the solar systems formation

Solar system formation. Artwork of stages inthe formation of the solar system. At top left, the new Sun is seen with the glowing ring of thesolar nebula around it. This gas and dust hasformed a ring around the rotating Sun at upperleft. At upper centre, the dust and gas iscoalescing into small bodies by gravitationalattraction. At lower centre, planetesimals haveformed from the thinning dust and gas, and theyglow orange due to the energy of countlessimpacts. The planets are thought to have formedaround 4.6 billion years ago

© Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library

Ferrari F2003-GA Versus Eurofighter Typhoon: The Ferrari F2003-GA of Michael Schumacher is ahead of the Eurofighter Typhoon...but not for long

The Ferrari F2003-GA of Michael Schumacher (GER) is ahead of the Eurofighter Typhoon...but not for long!
Ferrari F2003-GA Versus Eurofighter Typhoon, Italy, 11 December 2003.
DIGITAL IMAGE

© Sutton Motorsport Images