Images Dated 9th December 2004

RFA Gold Rover

Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel RFA Gold Rover with a Seaking helicopter from 845 Naval Air Squadron on her flight deck.
RFA Gold Rover is one of two remaining small fleet-support tankers in the RFA Flotilla. She was built by Swan Hunter Shipbuilders on the River Tyne, and was accepted into RFA Service in 1974. The Ships Company comprises 56 Officers and ratings of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, who are all British Registered Seafarers.
The primary role of the Gold Rover is to replenish warships of the Royal Navy with Fuel Oil, aviation fuel, lubricants, fresh water and a limited amount of dry cargo and refrigerated stores whilst underway.
The process of transferring fuel and stores at sea is known as RAS (Replenishment at Sea), and requires the RFA and its customer warship to steam along side by side whilst the fuel and stores are transferred from one ship to the other, using hoses and lines that are rigged between the two ships. RFA Gold Rover has the capability to replenish two warships at the same time one on either side at the same time. This complex task requires a high degree of seamanship, especially in rough weather conditions and at night

Quaoar in the Kuiper belt

Quaoar in the Kuiper Belt, artwork. Discovered in 2002 and with a diameter about half that of Pluto, Quaoar is one of the largest objects yet found in the Kuiper Belt. This region, which extends from the orbit of Neptune at 30 AU (30 times the Earth- Sun distance) to 50 AU, is composed of a huge number of small bodies - there are at least 70, 000 with diameters greater than 100 kilometres. It is believed that these objects are remnants of the accretions which formed our own planets; the denser materials were closer to the sun and formed our planets, whereas these less dense parts were further out and joined together slower

© DETLEV VAN RAVENSWAAY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Heath and moorland fires, UK

Heath and moorland fires in the UK, Aqua satellite image. April 2003 was a warm, dry month in Northern Europe. This, combined with a strong easterly wind, led to heath and moorland fires breaking out throughout Britain. Plumes from the largest of these can be seen below the Pennines and along the west coast of Scotland. Sand from the Sahara and air pollution exacerbated the problem, forming the hazy clouds seen in the image. This image was produced on the 18th April 2003 by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)

© NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY