Image

Three deep in the museum

A full-scale model of the submersible Alvin (left) hangs in the US Navy Yard Museum in Washington, D.C., alongside the bathyscaphe Trieste (right), which, in 1960, made the only manned dive to the Mariana Trench — the deepest part of the ocean. The unmanned, hybrid remotely operated vehicle Nereus, currently the only vehicle capable of reaching a depth of 11,000 meters, explored the Mariana Trench in June 2009. Nereus took up short-term residence at the Navy Yard Museum as part of a celebration commemorating the 50th aniversary of the historic Trieste dive. (Photo by Casey Machado, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)