In Greek mythology, Medusa was a monster with the face of a human female and a head of venomous snakes for hair. Gazing directly upon her would turn any creature to stone. In northern Tanzania, Lake Natron has had similar effects—on birds in particular. As part of his latest book, Across the Ravaged Land,…
THE FACE OF AN ICEBERG Photograph by strummingmusic on Reddit In this photograph by reddit user strummingmusic, we see what looks to be the side profile of a large face on an equally large iceberg. The psychological phenomenon is known as pareidolia (the Sifter has as entire post on this entitled, 50…
OPEN WATER ROLL CLOUD Photograph by Capt. Andreas M. van der Wurff via EPOD This impressive (and seemingly endless) roll cloud was spotted from a ship en route from Paranagua, Brazil to Montevideo, Uruguay. The image was taken by Capt. Andreas M. van der Wurff and chosen as the Earth Science Picture…
AN ALBINO HUMPBACK WHALE Photograph by JENNY DEAN | Prints available In this rare capture by Jenny Dean, we see an albino Humpback whale, strongly believed to be Migaloo, the only documented white humpback whale in the world. According to the Courier-Mail, Migaloo was spotted outside the North Barnard Islands near Innisfail,…
IRIDESCENT ANTARCTICA Photograph by DEVEN STROSS Website | 500px | Facebook In this phenomenal capture by Deven Stross, we see beautiful and rare Nacreous clouds over the NASA Radome at McMurdo Station on Ross Island in Antarctica. The photo was taken on August 20th, 2013. Nacreous clouds (from nacre, or mother of…
THE ECLIPSE OF VENUS Image Credit: NASA/SDO & the AIA, EVE, and HMI teams Digital Composition by: PETER L. DOVE Selected as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day on August 20, 2013, is this fascinating digital composition by Peter L. Dove. APOD explains: Usually it is the Earth’s Moon that eclipses the…
WATERSPOUTS OVER THE ADRIATIC Photograph by ROBERTO GIUDICI (via epod.usra.edu) In this phenomenal capture by Roberto Giudici, we see four waterspouts over the Adriatic Sea. The photograph was recently featured as the Earth Science Picture of the Day. Giudici observed the waterspouts while on a boat trip to Brindisi, Italy. Roberto got…
ROLL CLOUD OVER CALGARY Photograph by Gry Elise Nyland In this tremendous capture by Gry Elise Nyland, we see an amazing roll cloud over Calgary, Alberta, Canada on the morning of June 18, 2013. According to the NOAA’s National Weather Service: “A roll cloud is a low, horizontal tube-shaped arcus cloud associated…
Photograph by Eric Rolph A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection of light in water droplets in the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. A rainbow is not located at a specific distance, but comes from any water droplets viewed from a…
THE OCEAN TORNADO Photograph by Joey Mole In this amazing capture by Joey Mole, we see a waterspout near Tampa Bay, Florida. According to NASA, the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida is arguably the most active area in the world for waterspouts. A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex that…