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This spectacular photo shows a 2 × 2° composite image of the Rosette Nebula, about 5000 light-years from Earth. Numerous bright compact sources are apparent in the cloud; these are dusty cocoons hiding protostars. This and similar images have been analyzed to reveal the manner in which star formation is associated with the triggering influence of nearby stars and with filamentary structure in the parent clouds, and to investigate the relationship between the mass distribution of star-forming cores and the mass distribution that we observe for fully formed stars. (Photo credit: ESA; SPIRE and PACS Consortia)

The Scolopendromorpha are the most abundant centipedes in the tropics, where the order exhibits its greatest diversity. They also include the largest centipedes, some of which reach a length close to 30 cm (128 in.). There are also many species, of smaller size, in the temperate zone. The representative shown above is Scolopendra cingulata, from the Mediterranean region. (Photo by Lucio Bonato)

A rare animal, the vicuna, or vicuña (Vicugna vicugna), is the smallest member of the family Camelidae. Less than 3 ft (0.9 m) in height and weighing 75–100 lb (34–45 kg), it is found in an almost inaccessible area of the Andes Mountains in South America, at altitudes of 16,000–19,000 ft (4875–5800 m). Its hair is the softest and most delicate of the known animal fibers; yet, this fiber is strong, resilient, and has a marked degree of elasticity and surface cohesion. Forty animals are required to provide enough fiber for the average coat.

Helicopters are characterized by their large-diameter, powered, rotating blades attached to a substantially vertical axis. They can lift vertically by the reactive force generated as the rotating blades accelerate air downward. They are the most successful vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft developed to date, by virtue of their relatively high efficiency in performing hovering and low-speed flight missions.This image shows a winged helicopter with a variable-direction ducted propeller. (Photo courtesy of Piasecki Aircraft Corporation)

This vampire squid,Vampyroteuthis infernalis, lives in the oxygen-minimum zone of Monterey Bay, California, at depths of 600–900 m (1970–2950 ft). The species is characterized by a flat, broad, leaflike, chitinous internal shell; eight arms (which are connected by a deep web) around the mouth; no tentacles, but two small sensory filaments that retract into pockets between the bases of the first and second arms; fingerlike cirri and a single row of suckers with chitinous rings along the arms; one pair of paddle-shaped fins on the body in adults (two pairs at the juvenile stage); very dark maroon to mostly black pigmentation; and light-producing organs on the body, head, and arms. (Photo courtesy of Kim Reisenbichler, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA)

The Gran Telescopio Canarias is a 10.4-m (409-in.) segmented telescope built at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. It is considered the largest telescope in the world because of the useful size of its primary mirror. It is also the first segmented telescope built in Europe and is being used as a test bench for the next generation of telescopes.The telescope is protected from meteorological perturbations with a large hemispherical dome, which can be rotated and has a shutter that opens during the night to see the sky.

Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) is a deciduous tree of the heath family, indigenous to the southeastern section of the United States, and found from Pennsylvania to Florida and west to Indiana and Louisiana. The leaves are simple, finely toothed, long-pointed, and 4–8 in. (10–20 cm) in length, and have an acid taste, which explains the popular name. They turn scarlet in the autumn, as shown above. The flowers are white and urn-shaped and grow in long clusters. The dry fruit remains on the tree through the autumn and winter. (Photo courtesy of Michaela Medina)

The plant Crocus sativus, a member of the iris family (Iridaceae), is commonly known as saffron. It is the source of a potent yellow-orange dye used for coloring foods and medicine; however, synthetic dyes have replaced it in many instances. Saffron dye is extracted from the styles and stigmas of the flowers, which appear in autumn. It takes 4,000 flowers to produce 1 oz (28 g) of the dye. Here you can see saffron’s three red-colored stigmas. These distinctive stigmas (“saffron threads”) are dried to obtain the spice. (Photo copyright © Joanna Baron)

Raphidioptera are a small order of medium-sized insects commonly known as snakeflies. They are holometabolous; that is, they undergo complete metamorphosis. Adult snakeflies are characterized by a striking appearance: an elongate (frequently raised) prothorax, or neck (hence, another common name is camel-neck flies); translucent wings [6–20 mm (0.24–0.8 in.)], with loose venation and a distinct opaque thickened spot at the apex of the fore and hind wings. Females have a long ovipositor (a specialized structure for depositing eggs), as shown here. (Photo courtesy of P. Sehnal)

What do humans have in common with this Philippine tarsier, Tarsius syrichta? Both belong to the order of primates. Yet primates are generally arboreal mammals; that is, they live in trees. The tarsiers, tiny primates (weighing only about 120 g or 4.2 oz) from the islands of Southeast Asia, all belong to a single genus, Tarsius. They are nocturnal, with the largest eyes of any primate. They have legs that are much longer than their forelimbs, a long almost hairless tail with a tuft at the tip, and fleshy pads on the ends of their fingers—all adaptations for a specialized lifestyle as vertical clingers and leapers. (Photo by William Flaxington)