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Physics
A rare and spectacular collision is seen in the Cartwheel galaxy,
located 500 million light-years away in the constellation
Sculptor. The striking ring-like feature was formed when a
smaller intruder galaxy careened through the core of the host
galaxy about 200 million years ago, sending gas and dust into
space at 200,000 miles per hour. The intruder is not known, but
is thought to be one of the two galaxies at the right of the
image. This picture was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope on
October 16, 1994.
Earth Science
Water surface height measurement of the Pacific Ocean, acquired
with microwave imaging from the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite on
August 21, 1997. The oblong mass near the equator is the weather
disrupting phenomenon known as El Nino. Green represents
the normal sea level; white indicates that the sea surface is
greater than 18 cm (7 inches) higher than normal; purple
indicates it is more than 18 cm below normal. The excess water
contained in this El Nino is about 30 times the volume of all the
U.S. great lakes combined.
Medicine
Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) of a living human's head, using
pseudo color to delineate the brain from other soft tissue and
bone. MRI has revolutionized medical diagnosis with its ability
to visualize the body's internal anatomy. Digital Signal
Processing has been at the forefront of MRI and other medical
imaging techniques.
Engineering
Cut away view of a turbine engine, such as used on commercial and
military aircraft. Air enters the engine on the left and is
compressed by a multistage turbine. In the center, fuel is
injected into the air flow and ignited. The hot expanding gases
exit the engine toward the right, passing through another turbine
that extracts power from the high velocity gas flow. Large
turbine engines can generate more than 100,000 pounds of thrust.