Science image of the day

NOVEMBER 30: Two central tail feathers perfectly frame the red bird (Paradisaea rubra) as a means of courtship. Photo part of National Geographic's 'Birds of Paradise' exhibit.

NOVEMBER 29: A three day old male Asian elephant stands beneath his mother's legs in their enclosure at Chester Zoo, England.

NOVEMBER 26: A mother Weddell seal pokes her head out of a hole in the Antarctic ice to communicate with her young pup.

NOVEMBER 22: Seen from the International Space Station, the Soyuz TMA-05M descent module begins to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, leaving a plasma trail.

NOVEMBER 20: Sakurajima, pictured in 2009, is one of the world's most active volcanoes. It is located right across from the Japanese city of Kagoshima.

NOVEMBER 19: People look at a waterspout on Sunday, close to the shoreline near Batemans Bay, about 225km south of Sydney.

NOVEMBER 16: The Olive Ridley Turtle begins nesting season in central America. Male and female turtles copulate as much as 1000km away from the beaches where eggs are laid.

NOVEMBER 14: Icebergs near Palmer Station in Antarctica.

NOVEMBER 13: The super storm that blitzed through the US northeast ruined much in its way including this home. Some scientists say such powerful storms are becoming more likely owing to climate change.

NOVEMBER 12: Ice worms live in ice in some Northern Hemisphere glaciers. They avoid the sun because if their temperature rises a few degrees above zero their membrane falls apart - essentially melting.

NOVEMBER 6: The atomic clock at New Zealand's MSL lab; the provider of precision time to various users including ISPs and Radio New Zealand.

NOVEMBER 2: Retired Nasa space shuttle Atlantis rolls out of its processing hangar for the final time as it begins to move to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex where it becomes a museum piece.

NOVEMBER 1: Nasa's Mars rover Curiosity uses its Hand Lens Imager to photograph itself on the red planet.