Wikipedia:Picture of the day/December 2011

On December 1, 1984, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted the Controlled Impact Demonstration, where they deliberately crashed a Boeing 720 aircraft with the intent of improving occupant crash survivability. Seen left-to-right, top-to-bottom, the plane makes a practice approach, hits the ground, slides for a short distance, strikes posts cemented in the ground, and becomes engulfed in flames.

Photos: NASA

Photo: Paolo Costa Baldi.

This 1898 cartoon from

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A juvenile

Photo: JJ Harrison

A farmer harvests seaweed growing on a rope, on the small island of Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia. Wooden posts demarcate the bay into rectangular plots that are owned by different families. Seaweed farming is a fairly simple process: Attached plants are placed in the sea and allowed to grow naturally, with little human intervention.

Photo: Jean-Marie Hullot

A

Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

The American Bird Grasshopper (Schistocerca americana) is one of the about 50 species of bird grasshopper. Many of these swarm as locusts, the best known of which is probably the desert locust (S. gregaria).

Photo: Tom Friedel

The brown-throated sloth (Bradypus variegatus) is the most common species of three-toed sloth. It is found in the forests of South and Central America. Males and females are both about 42–80 cm (17–31 in) in total body length and weigh 2.25–6.3 kg (5–14 lb).

Photo: Christian Mehlführer

The

Crystals of pure chromium created by a chemical transport reaction, along with a cube of the element for comparison. Chromium is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that has high corrosion resistance and hardness. Its major industrial uses are in electroplating and making stainless steel.

Photo: Alchemist-hp

A composite satellite image of the geography of Africa, the Earth's second-largest continent, and its adjacent islands. Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea and from much of Asia by the Red Sea, Africa is joined to Asia at its northeast extremity by the Isthmus of Suez. For geopolitical purposes, the Sinai Peninsula – east of the Suez Canal – is often considered part of Africa, although geographically it belongs in Asia. Africa can be divided into a number of geographic zones: The Atlas Mountains in the north, the Sahara, the coastal plains, and the inner plateaus.

Photo: NASA

The shell of a

Photo: George Chernilevsky

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Photo: Simon Pierre Barrette

The Garden of Earthly Delights is a triptych by the early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch. The left panel depicts God presenting Eve to Adam, while the central panel is a broad panorama of sexually engaged nude figures, fantastical animals, oversized fruit and hybrid stone formations. The right panel is a hellscape and portrays the torments of damnation. The intricacy of its symbolism, particularly that of the central panel, has led to a wide range of scholarly interpretations over the centuries.

The

Photo: Massimo Catarinella

The Dirce Beauty (Colobura dirce) species of butterfly belongs to the Nymphalini tribe, the members of which are characterized by the jagged outline of their wings and the ability to survive the winter months as adults in an obligatory hibernal diapause, hiding in various shelters (e.g., crevices, hollows, cavities, even unheated buildings). The signature mark of all nymphalines is the cryptic color and spots on the underside of their wings, serving to conceal it against the surface on which it rests during hibernation.

Photo: Richard Bartz

Connie Mack (1862–1958) was an American professional baseball player, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he managed the Philadelphia Athletics for the club's first 50 seasons of play before retiring at age 87 following the 1950 season.

Photo: Paul Thompson; Restoration: Lise Broer

The Gold dust day gecko (Phelsuma laticauda) is a diurnal species of day gecko native to Madagascar and the Comoros, although it has been introduced to Hawaii and other Pacific islands. It grows to about 15–22 cm (6–9 in) in length and is bright green or yellowish green with rufous bars on the snout and head, and red bars on the lower back.

Photo: Thierry Caro

The eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus) is a chipmunk species native to eastern North America. Like other chipmunks, they transport food in pouches in their cheeks, as seen here. They eat bulbs, seeds, fruits, nuts, green plants, mushrooms, insects, worms, and bird eggs.

Photo: Simon Pierre Barrette

The peaks of the Central Massif overlook the village of Sotres in Cabrales, located in the Picos de Europa, a mountain range in northern Spain forming part of the Cantabrian Mountains. The name (literally: "Peaks of Europe") is believed to derive from being the first European landforms visible to mariners arriving from the Americas.

Photo: Mick Stephenson

The

Photo: JJ Harrison

A drawing of travelers on the

The marbled rock crab (Pachygrapsus marmoratus) is native to the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and parts of the Atlantic Ocean. It is dark violet brown, with yellow marbling, and with a body up to 36 millimetres (1.4 in) long. It is an omnivore, feeding on algae and various animals including mussels and limpets.

Photo: George Chernilevsky

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Nighttime photo of the northern section of