Week in Photos NGC 1. A rare celestial body A rare celestial body known as a magnetar shimmers in an explosion of x-rays in this artist's depiction. The unusual object, about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius, is a small, fast-spinning neutron star that periodically shoots out huge cataclysms of x-ray emissions. A new study has found that an outburst of radiation detected from the star in 2003 came from a spot below the star's surface only 2 miles (3.5 kilometers) across. The magnetar is only about 9 miles (15 kilometers) across in total but contains about as much mass as the sun. The study, conducted with the European Space Agency's XXM-Newton orbiting telescope, also found that the star has one of the most powerful magnetic fields in the universe—600 trillion times that of Earth's
2. Experiment to study the effects of living underwater for prolonged periods Fish swim past Italian scuba divers Debora Vissani, right, and Alessandro Brandetti as they sit on a platform anchored 50 feet (15 meters) underwater on the sea floor. Vissani and Brandetti are two of six "aquanauts" who will spend 14 days submerged as part of an experiment to study the effects of living underwater for prolonged periods. The divers have three diving bells for living space and a fourth bell for cooking, eating, and maintaining equipment. The aquanauts—members of the Explorer Team Pellicano—will be monitored by a medical staff and experts from Rome University and the city's hospitals, the news agency ANSA reported.
3. Codex Gigas Visitors peer at the Codex Gigas—also called the Devil's Bible—during the opening of an exhibition at the Klementinum, the Czech Republic's national library. Created in the 13th century A.D. by a Benedictine monk, the 624-page, 165-pound (75-kilogram) manuscript was considered to be a wonder of the world during Europe's Middle Ages. The book contains the Old and New Testaments of the Bible along with several historical texts. A curious illustration of Lucifer gives the tome its nickname. When the Thirty Years' War threw Europe into turmoil in the 1600s, Swedish troops invaded Prague—which then housed the book—and carried the Devil's Bible away as booty. After lengthy negotiations, the tome is now on loan to the Klementinum for a four-month exhibition, offering Czechs their first home glimpse of the ancient text in almost 360 years.
4. The wildfire Firefighters stand at the ready as the Butler 2 fire spreads through mountainous terrain near Big Bear Lake. The wildfire, which ravaged more than 15,000 acres (6,100 hectares), prompted a mandatory evacuation of Fawnskin earlier this week, the Los Angeles Times reported. Two days of high humidity and low temperatures enabled firefighters to contain most of the blaze by Thursday, September 20, however. Already this year, 70,546 wildfires have raged throughout the United States, charring more than eight million acres (three million hectares), according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
5. The Queen Elizabeth 2 The Queen Elizabeth 2 enters the mouth of the River Tyne as she sails to Newcastle on her 40th anniversary cruise around Britain. The world's most traveled liner, the QE2 was launched from the John Brown shipyard in Clydebank on September 20, 1967. In 800 transatlantic crossings and 25 world cruises, the ship has carried some 2.5 million passengers. That long career is almost at an end, though. The QE2 is slated to end its travels in November 2008 in Dubai, where it will be refurbished as a floating hotel.
6. Typhoon Nari Typhoon Nari lashes a South Korean woman with heavy rain and gale-force winds as she attempts to cross a flooded street on Cheju Island. The 11th typhoon of the year, Nari—named after a type of South Korean flower—battered much of the country, killing at least 15 people and leaving thousands homeless. But Cheju was the hardest hit, and government officials have declared the resort island a special disaster area to facilitate recovery and rescue efforts.
7. Mummies-The Dream of Eternal Life A curator prepares a mummy preserved in marshland at the Archaeological Museum of Castle Gottorf. The body will be part of the exhibition "Mummies-The Dream of Eternal Life," which will begin on September 30 at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums in Mannheim, Germany. The exhibit is slated to display the "Windeby Girl" bog buddy, mummies from Egypt and Peru, and preserved animals.
