MICKEY MOUSE ON MERCURY Photograph by NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington Spotted just northwest of the recently named crater Magritte in Mercury’s south, the image above is not map projected; the larger crater actually sits to the north of the two smaller ones. The shadowing helps define the…
As you would imagine, the highest point is found at the peak of the continent’s highest mountain. In mountaineering this is known as the Seven Summits, which was first postulated and achieved on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass. Below you can see the highest points on every continent compared to the “Eight-Thousanders“,…
A BREAK IN THE CLOUDS Photograph by Jeffrey Pang on Flickr In this fabulous capture by Jeffrey Pang, we see two canoers paddling through Lake Louise as a break in the clouds reveals the majestic Victoria Glacier in the background. Lake Louise is a glacial lake located in Banff National Park in…
Olympus America Inc. is in the ninth year of sponsoring the BioScapes International Digital Imaging Competition. It honours the world’s most extraordinary microscope images of life science subjects. The Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition recognizes outstanding images of life science specimens captured through light microscopes, using any magnification, any illumination technique and any brand…
HAFRAGILSFOSS WATERFALL, ICELAND Photograph by Alexander Shchukin In this wonderful capture by Alexander Shchukin, we see the beautiful Hafragilsfoss waterfall located in Jokulsargljufur National Park in Iceland. The waterfall has a single drop of approximately 27 meters (89 feet) and an approximate width of 91 meters (300 ft). The falls are just…
The Greatest Purely Vertical Drop in the World Photograph by Peter Morgan Mount Thor, officially gazetted as Thor Peak, is a mountain with an elevation of 1,675 m (5,495 ft) located in Auyuittuq National Park, on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The mountain is located 46 km (29 mi) northeast of Pangnirtung and…
The Crescent-Shaped Molokini Crater in Hawaii Photograph by Ron Garnett/Hawaii Tourism Authority Molokini is a small, crescent moon-shaped volcanic crater island that is a State Marine Life and Bird Conservation District. Lying only three miles from Maui’s southwestern coast, Molokini spans over 18 acres and rises 160 feet above reef-filled waters, offering…
IF JUPITER WAS THE SAME DISTANCE AS THE MOON Artwork by jb2386 on Reddit What if Jupiter were the same distance from the Earth as the Moon? How would it look in our sky? It’s an interesting question that isn’t entirely straightforward as it can depend on things such as, relative size…
SCALING THE MIGHTY REDWOOD Photograph by Michael Nichols for National Geographic In this incredible photograph by Michael Nichols, we see two scientists partway up a 350-foot tree. Botanist Marie Antoine (at right) can be seen passing a core sample of the tree’s wood—750 years of redwood biography—to canopy ecologist Giacomo Renzullo. Research…
A GOLDEN AFTERNOON AT NIAGARA FALLS Photograph by Wolfgang Staudt on Flickr Niagara Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls that straddle the the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York, also forming the southern end of the Niagara Gorge. From largest to…