BORA BORA FROM SPACE Photograph by PLEIADES-HR SATELLITE This dramatic aerial photograph of Bora Bora was taken by France and Italy’s recently launched Pleidades-HR Satellite in January of 2012. The satellite orbits the Earth at an altitude of 694 km (431 miles). Pleiades is made of two “small satellites” (mass of one…
Photograph by SHANE TORGERSON The Barringer Meteor Crater is a meteorite impact crater located approximately 43 miles (69 km) east of Flagstaff, near Winslow in the northern Arizona desert of the United States. Because the US Department of the Interior Division of Names commonly recognizes names of natural features derived from the nearest…
THE LARGEST TREE IN THE WORLD Photograph by JIM BAHN The General Sherman is a giant sequoia tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, California. By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth. With a height of 83.8 metres (275 ft),…
Photograph by NASA/Tim Jacobs NASA’s space shuttle fleet began setting records with its first launch on April 12, 1981 and continued to set high marks of achievement and endurance through 30 years of missions. Starting with Columbia and continuing with Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour, the spacecraft has carried people into orbit repeatedly,…
THE THROAT OF FIRE ERUPTS IN ECUADOR Photograph by PATRICK TASCHLER This incredible capture by photographer Patrick Taschler was featured on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day on April 2, 2012. In it we see the Volcano Tungurahua in Ecuador erupting in spectacular fashion. Molten rock pours down the sides of the…
ADAPTIVE ROOTS IN THE CONCRETE JUNGLE Photograph by HORST KIECHLE In this fantastic sighting by photographer Horst Kiechle, we see the roots of a tree in Bangkok, Thailand (Lat Yao, Chatuchak to be exact) growing into the grooves and cracks of an interlocking sidewalk. Not only do the colour of the roots…
In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water. Known also as a conflux, it refers either to the point where a tributary joins a larger river, called the main stem, or where two streams meet to become the source of a river of a new name, such as…
THE INCREDIBLE HAMILTON POOL NATURE PRESERVE Photograph by DAVE WILSON PHOTOGRAPHY Although we’ve already featured this incredible place as the Picture of the Day on October 3, 2011, this second shot also by the talented Dave Wilson was too good to pass up. Offering a completely different yet equally dramatic view of…
THE THREE-TIERED WATERFALL OF BAATARA GORGE Photograph by missakassim on Panoramio.com The Baatara gorge waterfall (Balaa gorge waterfall) is a waterfall in the Tannourine, Lebanon. The waterfall drops 255 metres (837 ft) into the Baatara Pothole, a cave of Jurassic limestone located on the Lebanon Mountain Trail. Discovered in 1952 by French…
THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS Photograph via opoipo on Reddit Wise, inquisitive, skeptical; whatever comes to mind when you see this striking elder frog it certainly grabs your attention. What we do know is that it is a Phyllomedusa sauvagii, commonly known as the Waxy Monkey Leaf Frog, belonging to the subfamily…
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