SHELF CLOUD OVER TIMISOARA Photograph by ERVIN BOER In this amazing capture by Ervin Boer, we see an intimidating shelf cloud over Timisoara, Romania. The photo was posted to Timisoara’s official Facebook page (via my friend Mihai). A shelf cloud is a low, horizontal, wedge-shaped arcus cloud. They are attached to the…
DARK BLUE BOTTOM OF AN ICEBERG Photograph by Aoraki Mount Cook Alpine Village In this photograph by Aoraki Mount Cook Alpine Village, we see the dark blue bottom of an iceberg in the terminal lake of New Zealand’s largest glacier, the Tasman Glacier. According to dr_glaciology, the ice is so blue because…
At a laboratory at Harvard University, scientists have grown complex self-assembling nano- and microstructures using a solution of chemicals and minerals. Some of the structures are smaller than the width of a human hair and have many potential uses in optics and engineering. Researchers have started with flowers, stems and vases as they were…
FLYBY ECLIPSE Photograph by PHILLIP CALAIS In this perfectly timed capture by Phillip Calais, we see an airplane flying by a partial solar eclipse. Selected as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day for May 13, Calais remarked: “It was just eight minutes after sunrise, last week, and already there were four things…
CAT’S EYE NEBULA Photograph by ESA, NASA, HEIC and The Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA) From spacetelescope.org: In this detailed view from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the so-called Cat’s Eye Nebula looks like the penetrating eye of the disembodied sorcerer Sauron from the film adaptation of “Lord of the Rings.” The…
Guttation is the exudation of drops of sap (xylem) on the tips or edges of leaves of some vascular plants, such as grasses. Guttation is not to be confused with dew, which condenses from the atmosphere onto the plant surface. At night, transpiration usually does not occur because most plants have their stomata (pores…
Crimson Skies and Mammatus Clouds Photograph by beau-dog on Flickr In this amazing photo, we see crimson mammatus clouds over Citi Field in Queens, New York. The photograph of the intense storm was taken before the game on June 26, 2009 by Flickr user beau-dog. Citi Field is the home baseball park…
OBSERVING MARS IN 1926 Photograph via Smithsonian Institution In this photo from 1926, we see George A. Van Biesbroeck (1880-1974), an astronomer at Yerkes Observatory, observing Mars when it approached close to the Earth that year. Van Biesbroeck is shown using the observatory’s 40 inch refracting telescope, the largest of its kind…