![[picture of book]](bookbig.gif)
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.