Pinwheel Galaxy

The Pinwheel Galaxy is a face-on spiral galaxy located 21 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It was first discovered byPierre Méchain on March 27, 1781, and communicated toCharles Messier, who verified its position for inclusion in the Messier Catalogue as one of its final entries. This image, released on February 28, 2006, is composed of 51 individual exposures, as well as some extra ground-based photos. At the time of its release, it was the largest and most detailed image of a galaxy by the Hubble Space Telescope.

SMS Furst Bismarck

SMS Fürst Bismarck was Germany's first armored cruiser, built for the Kaiserliche Marine before the turn of the 20th century and launched in 1900. Named for the German statesman Otto von Bismarck, the ship was primarily intended for colonial duties. She served in this capacity as part of the East Asia Squadron until she was relieved in 1909, at which point she returned to Germany. The ship was rebuilt between 1910 and 1914, and after the start of World War I, she was briefly used as a coastal defense ship. She proved inadequate to this task, and so she was withdrawn from active duty and served as a training ship for engineers until the end of the war. Fürst Bismarck was decommissioned in 1919 and sold for scrap.

Earthworms

All earthworms have bodies composed of repeated segments called metameres separated from one another by circular membranes called septa. The metameres are very similar to one another, but in earthworms there are the following variations (among others): there are no nephridia in the first three segments; there are no nerve ganglia in the first two segments (though several nerves extend there from the third and fourth segments); the prostomium, which is not a complete segment, functions as a flap to close the mouth but is also highly flexible and is used by the worm as a prehensile body part to grasp and pull leaves and grass into its burrow. The large muscular pharynxsucks in the worm’s food which then passes between the animal’s hearts to be stored and moistened in the crop and then ground by fragments of ingested sand and stone in the gizzard before entering the rest of the intestine. The gizzard is considered the animal’s stomach. The nephridia are the only waste-filtering organs—there is no separate digestive gland or liver.

2014 Eruption

A man sweeping volcanic ash in Yogyakarta during the 2014 eruption of Kelud. The East Javan volcano erupted on 13 February 2014 and sent volcanic ash covering an area of about 500 kilometres (310 mi) in diameter. Ashfall from the eruption "paralyzed Java", closing airports, tourist attractions, and businesses as far away as Bandung and causing millions of dollars in financial losses. Cleaning operations continued for more than a week.

Browsing

Browsing is a type of herbivory in which a herbivore (or, more narrowly defined, a folivore) feeds on leaves, softshoots, or fruits of high growing, generally woody, plants such as shrubs. In this photograph, a chital (Axis axis) is attempting to browse at Nagarhole National Park.

The Cathedral

The Cathedral is an abstract oil painting on canvas created by Czech artist František Kupka in 1912–1913. Measuring 180 by 150 centimetres (71 in × 59 in), the painting is held by the Museum Kampa in Prague, Czech Republic. In this painting, vertical lines running the entire length of the canvas are intersected by diagonal lines to form rectilinear shapes of various sizes and colors.

Lyme Park

The south facade of Lyme Park house in Lyme Park, a large estate located south of Disley, Cheshire. The symmetrical 15-bay three-storey south front overlooking the pond is the work of Giacomo Leoni and was completed in the 1720s. The house itself measures 190 feet (58 m) by 130 feet (40 m) round a courtyard plan. The older part is built in coursed, squared buff sandstone rubble with sandstone dressings; the later work is inashlar sandstone.

Loligo forbesii

Loligo forbesii is a commercially important species of squid in the family Loliginidae. It can be found in the seas around Europe, its range extending through the Red Sea toward the East African coast. The squid lives at depths of 10 to 500 m (30 to 1,600 ft), feeding on fish, polychaetes, crustaceans, and other cephalopods.

Grimsel Pass

The Grimsel Pass is a mountain pass in Switzerland which crosses the Bernese Alps at an elevation of 2,164 metres (7,100 ft). It connects the Haslital, the upper valley of the river Aare, with the upper valley of the Rhone. A 38-kilometre (24 mi) paved road between Gletsch and Meiringen follows the pass; owing to high snowfall, this road is generally closed between October and May.

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

A male Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) capturing a common starling. This small bird of prey species is found throughout the temperate and subtropical parts of the Old World, and though it specialises in catchingwoodland birds it can be found in any habitat. Males tend to take smaller birds, including tits, finches, and sparrows, while the larger females catch primarily thrushes and starlings.