Tag: Earth
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Turkmenistan’s Darvaza gas crater, the ‘door to hell’
The Darvaza gas crater also called the Gates of Hell or Door to Hell, is a natural gas field in Turkmenistan that collapsed into an underground cavern. Soviet engineers set the 230-foot hole on fire while exploring for gas in 1971. They expected the flames to die after a few days, but the opening burned […]
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The edge of the Earth: Australia’s Nullarbor Cliffs
What looks like the end of the Earth is really just the end of Australia. The Bunda Cliffs of Nullarbor Plain, Southern Australia, form part of the longest uninterrupted line of coastal cliffs (62 miles long) in the world. They literally look like someone sawed off the bottom of Australia with a jigsaw. These limestone […]
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Meet the Eye of Earth, Croatia’s Cetina Cave Spring
The Eye of Earth is a karst spring located in Croatia’s Mount Dinara Nature Park. The small body of water is the primary source of the Cetina River, which flows from the northwestern slopes of Dinara — 6,000 feet above sea level — down through southern Croatia. No one knows the precise depth of the […]
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Rare Rainbow Waterfall at Yosemite National Park
Said the “Father of the National Parks“ of America’s national parks John Muir, “Most people are on the world, not in it.” His advocacy helped protect the Yosemite Valley and ultimately led to the establishment of Yosemite National Park. The video of the rainbow waterfall by landscape photographer Greg Harlow at Yosemite (see below) is just one of the many […]
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NASA and ESA capture closest images of the sun ever taken
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have snapped the closest pictures ever taken of the sun. The images, taken nearly 48 million miles away from the sun’s surface by the Solar Orbiter probe (launched February 9), reveal countless tiny flares which scientists have called “campfires.” Scientists hope that these never-before seen exterior shots will […]
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The evolution of the spacesuit
As spacesuit design continues to become thinner, intricate, and more dynamic — there are touchscreen sensitive gloves, an attached helmet and built-in ventilation in the latest uniform — it’s worth looking at how both US and Russian spacesuits have evolved over time. Start by looking at the original suit (the Marshmallow Moon-Suit) designed for the moon mission […]
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Views of the Super Pink Moon from around the world
Miss the ‘Super Pink Moon’ rise on Wednesday? We’ve got you covered. The pink moon is the largest full moon of the year and occurs when the moon gets in close proximity to Earth, making it appear 7% larger and 15% brighter than the average full moon. The Super Pink Moon isn’t really pink The […]
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Radiant Sodalite mineral rock
How neat is this sodalite mineral rock? A rare discovery, sodalite rocks form from crystallized from sodium-rich magmas and are typically blue or violet in nature. Think of the sodalite as a normal stone with special effects — a la tenebrescence — that make the minerals glow when exposed to light. Check out its cousin, […]
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What the northern lights look like from a U-2 spy plane at 70,000ft.
U-2 pilot and instructor and avid photographer Ross Franquemont took these snaps of the spectacular aurora borealis — or, northern lights, while flying the legendary U-2 spycraft. “I had no idea how fast the aurora moved and changed. It danced around, changing shape several times a second. That made it a challenge for the photographer […]
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Watch stunning ground-to-cloud lightning in Australia
While we perceive lightning from cloud to ground or cloud to cloud, the majority of lightning one sees occurs from ground to cloud. In this video captured by Hayden Milne in Burleigh Heads, Australia, we see ground-to-cloud lightning in its most epic display. Doesn’t lightning always work upside down? Mother Nature can be scary at […]
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See the sharpest movie of the sun ever made, with each plasma cell the size of Texas
The sun is about 93,000,000 miles away from Earth. The sun’s light travels at the speed of 186,000 miles per second, in total taking just 8 minutes to reach us. The National Solar Observatory (NSO) has brought us the sharpest view of the sun we’ve seen yet using the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope. Each […]
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Breathtaking views of the Earth from the International Space Station
Ever wanted to see Planet Earth from 248 miles away? That’s how high the International Space Station orbits above the earth, which is about the same distance as New York to Washington DC, or London to Durham. Thanks to these epic views of our planet from the International Space Station in the thermosphere, now you […]