Lake Effect
Photograph by Ben Leshchinsky
Canoers paddle the opaque surface of Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada’s Banff National Park. Ben Leshchinsky captured the “disorienting” photo from a cliff overlooking the lake. “Even boulders the size of large cars seemed like pebbles from a high vantage point,” he writes.
This photo was submitted to the 2014 National Geographic Photo Contest.
(Source: National Geographic)
Two moons passing in the nightImage credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science InstituteThe Saturn moons Mimas and Pandora remind us of how different they are when they appear together, as in this image taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Pandora’s small size means that it lacks sufficient gravity to pull itself into a round shape like its larger sibling, Mimas. Researchers believe that the elongated shape of Pandora (50 miles, or 81 kilometers across) may hold clues to how it and other moons near Saturn’s rings formed.
(Source: distant-traveller)
Pamukkale, 19 km (12 miles) north of Denizli, is Turkey’s foremost mineral-bath spa because of its natural beauty: hot calcium-laden waters spring from the earth and cascade over a cliff. As they cool they form dramatic travertines of hard, brilliantly white calcium that form pools.
Pamukkale has been used as a spa since the second century BC.
(Source: earth-phenomenon-blog)
I found a ghost town while driving though the midwest. I spent the day wading through dead grass and exploring the vacant homes. A rusty water tower lay on the outskirts of the town and the yards were littered with old cars.
New life took over the town. Birds had built nests in many of the homes and there was a dead lamb in one. As it grew dark it began to rain. I picked the house with the cleanest bed and slept inside as I listened to rain drip through holes in the ceiling and patter on the roof. I woke up early to the sounds of raccoons near me on the stairs.
MOON MOSAIC — A gorgeous image of the Moon from Noel Carboni via NASA: “No single exposure can easily capture faint stars along with the subtle colors of the Moon. But this dramatic composite view highlights both. The mosaic digitally stitches together fifteen carefully exposed high resolution images of a bright, gibbous Moon and a representative background star field. The fascinating color differences along the lunar surface are real, though highly exaggerated, corresponding to regions with different chemical compositions.” (NASA)
(Source: humanoidhistory)
Black sand beaches occur where lava flows enter the sea. The sand is quenched lava that is mostly glass. The finely divided glass and crystals weather quickly so the beaches don’t usually last for long periods. They are located in various parts of the world such as Hawaii, Iceland and Alaska.
(Source: sixpenceee)