WINTER TREE Photograph by Kim Schou on 500px In this beautiful capture by Kim Schou, we see a leafless tree in Vesterborg, Denmark, withstanding the cold of winter in Scandinavia. Like animals that hibernate, trees go through a similar process called dormancy. During dormancy, things like metabolism, energy consumption and growth all…
Smithsonian Magazine’s 10th Annual Photo Contest has just announced the 50 finalists for this year’s competition. The contest received over 37,600 photo submissions from photographers in 112 countries around the world. The Smithsonian will be awarding eight prizes: Grand Prize: $2,500 Category Winners: The winners of each of the five categories will receive $500…
MOON BEAM Photograph by Steve Nilsen In this creative shot, photographer Steve Nilsen shines his flashlight towards the moon as a beautiful halo is also seen encircling the moon. This phenomenon is known as a ‘moon ring’ or ‘winter halo’. It forms as light is refracted in millions of randomly oriented hexagonal…
ZION CANYON Photograph by Tom Anderson on Google+ Zion Canyon is a deep and narrow gorge in southwestern Utah, United States, carved by the North Fork of the Virgin River. Nearly the entire canyon is located within the eastern half of Zion National Park. The beginning of the canyon is usually delineated…
ASH CAVE AT HOCKING HILLS Photograph by Bryan Olesen on Flickr In this beautiful photo by Bryan Olesen, we see the popular Ash Cave in Hocking Hills, Ohio. Located in the southernmost reaches of Hocking Hills, Ash Cave is the largest recess cave in the state of Ohio. The horseshoe-shaped cave measures…
Located in the city of Kitakyushu, Japan, Kawachi Fuji Garden is home to an incredible 150 Wisteria flowering plants spanning 20 different species. The garden’s main attraction is the Wisteria tunnel that allows visitors to walk down an enchanting tunnel exploding with colour. Located about 6 hours (according to Google Maps) from Tokyo, the…
For those that live in colder climates where snow is an annual occurrence (Toronto, Canada myself), frost shadows are a fairly common sighting. But for our readers in warmer temperatures who perhaps never get to experience the joy (and pain) of a snowy winter, you may have never witnessed this phenomena. Recent posts on…
THE SOMBRERO GALAXY Photograph by NASA/ESA & the Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope trained its razor-sharp eye on one of the Universe’s most stately and photogenic galaxies, the Sombrero Galaxy, Messier 104 (M104). The galaxy’s hallmark is a brilliant white, bulbous core encircled by the thick dust lanes comprising…
Have you ever seen the top of a rusty fire hydrant and thought it looked like a distant planet floating in the Cosmos? Me neither. Thankfully, Redditor gumballbrain did, and recently shared a series of ‘fire hydrant planets‘ on Reddit that promptly made yesterday’s front page. As for how he came up with the…
THIS IS NORWAY Photograph by Simo Räsänen In this fantastic capture we see Vøringfossen, one of the most famous waterfalls in Norway, and Måbødalen, a wild and narrow valley located in Eidfjor, Hordaland. The waterfall drops a total of 182 meters (597 ft) with a major drop of 145 meters (475 ft).…