Friday, January 31, 2014
National Geographic Photo of the Day: January 31st of 2014
The Sunflower
January 31, 2014
January 31, 2014
The Sunflower
Photograph by Bernardo Cesare, National Geographic Your Shot
Your Shot community member Bernardo Cesare counts this submission, a photomicrograph of an ocean jasper from Madagascar, among his favorites. Cesare had put thin sections of jasper under a microscope, and "They turned out to contain a microscopic garden of flowers," he says. This shot was "by many named the Sunflower."Read more about the process of creating this image in a recent Your Shot: Spotlight interview with Cesare.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot. Check out the new and improved website, where you can share photos, take part in assignments, lend your voice to stories, and connect with fellow photographers from around the globe.
Astronomy Picture of the Day: January 31st of 2014
2014 January 31
Light Pillars from a Little Planet
Image Credit & Copyright: Janne Voutilainen
Explanation: Eerie pillars of light ring the edges of this snowy little planet. Of course the little planet is planet Earth, shown in a nadir-to-zenith, around-the-horizon, little planet projection. The spherical panoramic image mosaic maps a view from Siilinjärvi in eastern Finland. Flat ice crystals, like those more often found in high, thin clouds, are gently fluttering in very cold air near the surface. Pillars of light appear as the crystals' briefly horizontal facets reflect upward directed light from ground sources downward, toward the observer. In fact, the fluttering crystals produce an effect analogous to shimmering columns of moonlight or sunlight reflected by surface waves across water.
Image Credit & Copyright: Janne Voutilainen
Thursday, January 30, 2014
National Geographic Photo of the Day: January 30th of 2014
Mourning in Romania
"The composition and perspective work together very well here. I like how the delicate flowers so neatly placed on the tombstones mirror the crowd of people, the specks of color echoed in the clothes of the mourners. It feels almost as if we are witnessing a metamorphosis of sorts." —Alexa Keefe, Photo of the Day editor
This photo was submitted to Your Shot. Check out the new and improved website, where you can share photos, take part in assignments, lend your voice to stories, and connect with fellow photographers from around the globe.
January 30, 2014
January 30, 2014
Mourning in Romania
Photograph by Tiplea Remus, National Geographic Your Shot
Funeral ceremony, Romania"The composition and perspective work together very well here. I like how the delicate flowers so neatly placed on the tombstones mirror the crowd of people, the specks of color echoed in the clothes of the mourners. It feels almost as if we are witnessing a metamorphosis of sorts." —Alexa Keefe, Photo of the Day editor
This photo was submitted to Your Shot. Check out the new and improved website, where you can share photos, take part in assignments, lend your voice to stories, and connect with fellow photographers from around the globe.
Astronomy Picture of the Day: January 30th of 2014
2014 January 30
Rocket Streak and Star Trails
Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Killian / AmericaSpace
Explanation: Fixed to a tripod and looking east across the Kennedy Space Center's Turn Basin, a camera captured these star trails as a series of short exposures over a three hour period on the evening of January 23rd. Positioned just a few miles from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, it also captured a spectacular night launch of an Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite TDRS-L. Creating the trails, the apparent motion of the stars through the sky is just a reflection of the daily rotation of planet Earth on its axis. But that rotation is also the reason the rocket streak follows a path arcing east across the Atlantic. Launching toward the east, in the direction of Earth's rotation, adds the rotation velocity to the rocket and reduces the fuel needed to reach orbit. A little ironically, TDRS-L is destined for a geostationary orbit. From there, 36,000 kilometers or so above the equator, its orbital period will match Earth's rotation and the satellite will hang motionless in planet Earth's sky.
Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Killian / AmericaSpace
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
National Geographic Photo of the Day: January 29th of 2014
A Study in Pink
January 29, 2014
January 29, 2014
A Study in Pink
Photograph by Ken Dyball, National Geographic Your Shot
"We took off in a Cessna from a little dusty airstrip just beside Lake Turkana in northern Kenya," says Your Shot contributor Ken Dyball. "We had waited out the heat of the day so we could use the soft afternoon light. [After] about five to ten minutes flying south, we encountered these flamingos flying over Lake Logipi."This photo was submitted to Your Shot. Check out the new and improved website, where you can share photos, take part in assignments, lend your voice to stories, and connect with fellow photographers from around the globe.
Astronomy Picture of the Day: January 29th of 2014
2014 January 29
Jelly Donut Shaped Rock Appears on Mars
Image Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA
Explanation: What if a rock that looked like a jelly donut suddenly appeared on Mars? That's just what happened in front of the robotic Opportunity rover currently exploring the red planet. The unexpectedly placed rock, pictured above, was imaged recently by Opportunity after not appearing in other images taken as recently as twelve Martian days (sols) before. Given the intriguing mystery, the leading explanation is somewhat tame -- the rock was recently scattered by one of the rover's tires. Even so, the rock's unusual light tones surrounding a red interior created interest in its composition -- as well as causing it to be nicknamed Jelly Donut. A subsequent chemical analysis showed the rock has twice the abundance of manganese than any other rock yet examined -- an unexpected clue that doesn't yet fit into humanity's understanding of the Martian geologic history. Opportunity, just passing its 10-year anniversary on Mars, continues to explore the Murray Ridge section of the rim of 22-kilometer wide Endeavor Crater.
Image Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
National Geographic Photo of the Day: January 28th of 2014
Here Be Dragons
January 28, 2014
January 28, 2014
Here Be Dragons
Photograph by Stefano Unterthiner, National Geographic
An adult Komodo dragon hangs out near Indonesia's Komodo village. With people living inside the dragon-protecting Komodo National Park and poorly marked boundaries for wildlife habitat, encounters with lizards are inevitable. Most end without injury.See more pictures from the January 2014 feature story “Once Upon a Dragon.”
Astronomy Picture of the Day: January 28th of 2014
2014 January 28
Spiral Galaxy M83: The Southern Pinwheel
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and W. P. Blair (JHU) et al.
Explanation: M83 is one of the closest and brightest spiral galaxies on the sky. Visible with binoculars in the constellation of Hydra, majestic spiral arms have prompted its nickname as the Southern Pinwheel. Although discovered 250 years ago, only much later was it appreciated that M83 was not a nearby gas cloud, but a barred spiral galaxy much like our own Milky Way Galaxy. M83, pictured above by the Hubble Space Telescope in a recently released image, is a prominent member of a group of galaxies that includes Centaurus A and NGC 5253, all of which lie about 15 million light years distant. Several bright supernova explosions have been recorded in M83. An intriguing double circumnuclear ring has been discovered at the center of of M83.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and W. P. Blair (JHU) et al.
Monday, January 27, 2014
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