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Sep 30, 2014
The majestic South Fork of the Snake River flows 66 miles across southeastern #Idaho, through high mountain valleys, rugged canyons and broad flood plains to its confluence with the Henry's Fork near Menan Buttes. Located near some of the world's best known recreation areas -- including #Yellowstone and #GrandTeton National Parks -- the South Fork is home to 126 bird species, moose, deer and an impressive array of other wildlife. Plus, it's a great place to see fall colors in full bloom! Photo by Jessica Gottlieb, BLM Idaho (@mypubliclands). by usinterior
Captured three days ago, this photo shows the view from Buck Hollow Overlook at Shenandoah #NationalPark in #Virginia. Located just 75 miles from Washington, D.C., #Shenandoah offers an escape to nature with its cascading waterfalls, spectacular vistas and quiet wooden hollows. You can take a hike, meander along the scenic Skyline Drive or have an afternoon picnic, and as the leaves begin to take on the colors of fall, it's the perfect time to visit! by usinterior
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Unusual Rocks near Pahrump Hills on Mars Unusual Rocks near Pahrump Hills on Mars
How did these Martian rocks form? As the robotic Curiosity rover has approached Pahrump Hills on Mars, it has seen an interesting and textured landscape dotted by some unusual rocks. The featured image shows a curiously round rock spanning about two centimeters across. Seemingly a larger version of numerous spherules dubbed blueberries found by the Opportunity rover on Mars in 2004, what caused this roundness remains unknown. Possibilities include frequent tumbling in flowing water, sprayed molten rock in a volcanic eruption, or a concretion mechanism. The inset image, taken a few days later, shows another small but unusually shaped rock structure. As Curiosity rolls around and up Mount Sharp, different layers of the landscape will be imaged and studied to better understand the ancient history of the region and to investigate whether Mars could once have harbored life. via NASA http://ift.tt/1qMzGmG
Sep 29, 2014
We've got a cure for your case of the Mondays. This mountain goat in Glacier National Park. @GlacierNPS by usinterior
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Established in 1997, the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge works to protect the native plant, fish and wildlife species that live in the Connecticut River watershed. Spanning four states (New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut), the refuge includes nine divisions that represent a wide variety of habitats. Pictured here is the 260-acre Fort River Division located in Hadley, #Massachusetts. The Fort River Division is home to everything from the red-tailed hawk and great horned owl to the white-tailed deer and bobcat. Photo by James Weliver, @usfws. by usinterior
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Two Black Holes Dancing in 3C 75 Two Black Holes Dancing in 3C 75
What's happening at the center of active galaxy 3C 75? The two bright sources at the center of this composite x-ray (blue)/ radio (pink) image are co-orbiting supermassive black holes powering the giant radio source 3C 75. Surrounded by multimillion degree x-ray emitting gas, and blasting out jets of relativistic particles the supermassive black holes are separated by 25,000 light-years. At the cores of two merging galaxies in the Abell 400 galaxy cluster they are some 300 million light-years away. Astronomers conclude that these two supermassive black holes are bound together by gravity in a binary system in part because the jets' consistent swept back appearance is most likely due to their common motion as they speed through the hot cluster gas at 1200 kilometers per second. Such spectacular cosmic mergers are thought to be common in crowded galaxy cluster environments in the distant universe. In their final stages the mergers are expected to be intense sources of gravitational waves. via NASA http://ift.tt/1no1WBy
Sep 28, 2014
Taken from an Atlantic beach, Cape Canaveral, planet Earth, four identically framed digital images are combined in this night skyscape. Slightly shifted short star trails dot the sky, but the exposure times were adjusted to follow the flight of a Falcon 9 rocket. The September 21 launch delivered a Dragon X capsule filled with supplies to the International Space Station. Above the bright flare seen just after launch, the rocket's first stage firing trails upward from the left. After separation, the second stage burn begins near center with the vehicle climbing toward low Earth orbit. At the horizon, the flare near center records the re-ignition and controlled descent of the Falcon 9's first stage to a soft splashdown off the coast. via NASA http://ift.tt/1t3HWAi
Sep 27, 2014
Happy National Public Lands Day! To celebrate the national day that is dedicated to playing, learning, serving and working on our public lands, we’re waving the entrance fee for all national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands -- including the J. Clark Salyer Refuge (pictured here) in #NorthDakota. This 58,700 acre refuge has a diverse mix of habitats -- from grass prairie and marshes to sandhills and woodlands -- that help support waterfowl, migratory birds and other wildlife. Photo by Gary Eslinger (@USFWS). by usinterior
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MAVEN at Mars MAVEN at Mars
Launched on November 18, 2013, the MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft completed its interplanetary voyage September 21, captured into a wide, elliptical orbit around Mars. MAVEN's imaging ultraviolet spectrograph has already begun its planned exploration of the Red Planet's upper atmosphere, acquiring this image data from an altitude of 36,500 kilometers. In false color, the three ultraviolet wavelength bands show light reflected from atomic hydrogen (in blue), atomic oxygen (in green) and the planet's surface (in red). Low mass atomic hydrogen is seen to extend thousands of kilometers into space, with the cloud of more massive oxygen atoms held closer by Mars' gravity. Both are by products of the breakdown of water and carbon dioxide in Mars' atmosphere and the MAVEN data can be used to determine the rate of water loss over time. In fact, MAVEN is the first mission dedicated to exploring Mars' tenuous upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the Sun and solar wind. But the most recent addition to the fleet of spacecraft from planet Earth now in martian orbit is MOM. via NASA http://ift.tt/1v6VL5E
Sep 26, 2014
Tomorrow is National Public Lands Day. All across the country, volunteers of all ages will be pitching in to help keep America’s public lands beautiful. Visit http://ift.tt/UwMFK6 to find an event in your area. Photo of Table Rocks Wilderness in Oregon by Bob Wicks, BLM (@mypubliclands). by usinterior
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Yesterday Sequoia National Park in California, the nation's second national park, celebrated its 124th birthday. Situated in the southern Sierra Nevada, Sequoia is home to huge mountains, rugged foothills and deep canyons -- not to mention some of the world's largest trees. This Saturday, experience the beauty of Sequoia first hand with free entrance to the park (and all other public lands) as part of National Public Lands Day. This picture was taken along the John Muir Trail by Jeff Sambur (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl). by usinterior
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NGC 206 and the Star Clouds of Andromeda NGC 206 and the Star Clouds of Andromeda
The large stellar association cataloged as NGC 206 is nestled within the dusty arms of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy. Also known as M31, the spiral galaxy is a mere 2.5 million light-years away. NGC 206 is near top center in this gorgeous close-up of the southwestern extent of Andromeda's disk, a remarkable composite of data from space and ground-based observatories. The bright, blue stars of NGC 206 indicate its youth. In fact, its youngest massive stars are less than 10 million years old. Much larger than the open or galactic clusters of young stars in the disk of our Milky Way galaxy, NGC 206 spans about 4,000 light-years. That's comparable in size to the giant stellar nurseries NGC 604 in nearby spiral M33 and the Tarantula Nebula, in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Star forming sites within Andromeda are revealed by the telltale reddish emission from clouds of ionized hydrogen gas. via NASA http://ift.tt/1vjhrcX
Sep 25, 2014
Our public lands give some of the most spectacular views, like this one of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Now’s your chance to give America’s public lands something in return. This Saturday, join volunteers of all ages by lending a helping hand to spruce up public lands. To find events in your area, visit a ww.publiclandsday.org. Photo by Christina Adele Warburg (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl). by usinterior
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Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today applauded President Obama for his action to designate the largest marine reserve in the world to protect the pristine waters from commercial resource extraction including commercial fishing. The proclamation expands the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, one of the most intact, ecologically sound marine environments in the world, to six times its current size, resulting in 370,000 square nautical miles (490,000 square miles) around these islands and atolls in the south-central Pacific Ocean. To learn more, visit www.doi.gov. Photo: Kydd Pollock by usinterior
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The Lagoon Nebula in Stars Dust and Gas The Lagoon Nebula in Stars Dust and Gas
The large majestic Lagoon Nebula is home for many young stars and hot gas. Spanning 100 light years across while lying only about 5000 light years distant, the Lagoon Nebula is so big and bright that it can be seen without a telescope toward the constellation of Sagittarius. Many bright stars are visible from NGC 6530, an open cluster that formed in the nebula only several million years ago. The greater nebula, also known as M8 and NGC 6523, is named "Lagoon" for the band of dust seen to the left of the open cluster's center. A bright knot of gas and dust in the nebula's center is known as the Hourglass Nebula. The featured picture is a newly processed panorama of M8, capturing five times the diameter of the Moon. Star formation continues in the Lagoon Nebula as witnessed by the many globules that exist there. via NASA http://ift.tt/1B5mJui
Sep 24, 2014
Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1966 in cooperation with the State of #Maine to protect valuable salt marshes and estuaries for migratory birds. Located along 50 miles of coastline in York and Cumberland counties, the refuge consists of eleven divisions between Kittery and Cape Elizabeth. It will contain approximately 14,600 acres when land acquisition is complete. The proximity of the refuge to the coast and its location between the eastern deciduous forest and the boreal forest creates a composition of plants and animals not found elsewhere in Maine. Major habitat types present on the refuge include forested upland, barrier beach/dune, coastal meadows, tidal salt marsh, and the distinctive rocky coast. Photo: @USFWS by usinterior
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Aurora and Volcanic Light Pillar Aurora and Volcanic Light Pillar
That's no sunset. And that thin red line just above it -- that's not a sun pillar. The red glow on the horizon originates from a volcanic eruption, and the red line is the eruption's reflection from fluttering atmospheric ice crystals. This unusual volcanic light pillar was captured over Iceland earlier this month. The featured scene looks north from Jökulsárlón toward the erupting volcano Bárðarbunga in the Holuhraun lava field. Even the foreground sky is picturesque, with textured grey clouds in the lower atmosphere, shimmering green aurora in the upper atmosphere, and bright stars far in the distance. Although the last eruption from Holuhraun was in 1797, the present volcanic activity continues. via NASA http://ift.tt/1DuVOvK
Sep 23, 2014
It's #SeaOtterWeek! Sea Otter Awareness Week is held every year to put a spotlight on the world of sea otters, and to highlight ongoing conservation efforts to ensure these beautiful creatures remain a part of our marine environment. Learn more about SOAW at www.seaotterweek.org. This sea otter was photographed in Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge in #Alaska. Photo credit: Lisa Hupp/@USFWS by usinterior
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Sep 22, 2014
Follow the paths where ancient native people and pioneers walked. Gaze up at massive sandstone cliffs of cream, pink, and red that soar into a brilliant blue sky. Experience wilderness in a narrow slot canyon. Zion National Park's unique array of plants and animals will enchant you as you absorb the rich history of the past and enjoy the excitement of present day adventures. Photo: Steve Ancik by usinterior
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On Friday, President Obama signed the Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Reauthorization Act into law, meaning once again, Americans will be able to purchase the *Save Vanishing Species Stamp* at post offices and online, with funds going to help conserve some of the world’s most iconic and threatened species. The stamp – affectionately known as the *Tiger Stamp* for the painting of an Amur tiger cub it bears – functions as a regular postal mail stamp that sells at a small premium. The additional money goes to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s (@USFWS) Multinational Species Conservation Funds, directly funding conservation of elephants, rhinoceros, tigers, great apes and marine turtles. To learn more about the Multinational Species Conservation Funds and the Save Vanishing Species Stamp, visit: www.tigerstamp.com. by usinterior
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Saturn at Equinox Saturn at Equinox
How would Saturn look if its ring plane pointed right at the Sun? Before August 2009, nobody knew. Every 15 years, as seen from Earth, Saturn's rings point toward the Earth and appear to disappear. The disappearing rings are no longer a mystery -- Saturn's rings are known to be so thin and the Earth is so near the Sun that when the rings point toward the Sun, they also point nearly edge-on at the Earth. Fortunately, in this third millennium, humanity is advanced enough to have a spacecraft that can see the rings during equinox from the side. In August 2009, that Saturn-orbiting spacecraft, Cassini, was able to snap a series of unprecedented pictures of Saturn's rings during equinox. A digital composite of 75 such images is shown above. The rings appear unusually dark, and a very thin ring shadow line can be made out on Saturn's cloud-tops. Objects sticking out of the ring plane are brightly illuminated and cast long shadows. Inspection of these images is helping humanity to understand the specific sizes of Saturn's ring particles and the general dynamics of orbital motion. This week, Earth undergoes an equinox. via NASA http://ift.tt/1sNCyRX
Sep 21, 2014
Shoreline of the Universe Shoreline of the Universe
Against dark rifts of interstellar dust, the ebb and flow of starlight along the Milky Way looks like waves breaking on a cosmic shore in this night skyscape. Taken with a digital camera from the dunes of Hatteras Island, North Carolina, planet Earth, the monochrome image is reminiscent of the time when sensitive black and white film was a popular choice for dimmly lit night- and astro-photography. Looking south, the bright stars of Sagittarius and Scorpius are near the center of the frame. Wandering Mars, Saturn, and Zubenelgenubi (Alpha Librae) form the compact triangle of bright celestial beacons farther right of the galaxy's central bulge. Of course, the evocative black and white beach scene could also be from that vintage 1950s scifi movie you never saw, "It Came From Beyond the Dunes." via NASA http://ift.tt/XyKqOj
Sep 20, 2014
Much of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge (#Ohio) and the surrounding lands were once part of the Great Black Swamp. The 1,500 square mile Great Black Swamp was a vast network of forests, wetlands, and grasslands. The refuge manages about 6,500 acres of wetland, grassland, and wooded habitat. It provides valuable habitat for a diversity of waterfowl and other migratory birds, resident wildlife, and endangered and threatened species. It provides a place for people to enjoy wildlife-dependent activities and learn about the complexities of the natural world through education and interpretive programming. The refuge adds to the richness of the community by holding in trust a portion of the natural heritage of the Great Lakes ecosystem for the continuing benefit of the American people. Photo: @USFWS by usinterior
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Potentially Habitable Moons Potentially Habitable Moons
For astrobiologists, these may be the four most tantalizing moons in our Solar System. Shown at the same scale, their exploration by interplanetary spacecraft has launched the idea that moons, not just planets, could have environments supporting life. The Galileo mission to Jupiter discovered Europa's global subsurface ocean of liquid water and indications of Ganymede's interior seas. At Saturn, the Cassini probe detected erupting fountains of water ice from Enceladus indicating warmer subsurface water on even that small moon, while finding surface lakes of frigid but still liquid hydrocarbons beneath the dense atmosphere of large moon Titan. Now looking beyond the Solar System, new research suggests that sizable exomoons, could actually outnumber exoplanets in stellar habitable zones. That would make moons the most common type of habitable world in the Universe. via NASA http://ift.tt/XQ9dOj
Sep 19, 2014
Island in the Sky at sunset, Canyonlands National Park, #Utah. Photo: Jeremy Stevens (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl) by usinterior
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Cocoon Nebula Wide Field Cocoon Nebula Wide Field
In this crowded starfield covering over 2 degrees within the high flying constellation Cygnus, the eye is drawn to the Cocoon Nebula. A compact star forming region, the cosmic Cocoon punctuates a long trail of obscuring interstellar dust clouds. Cataloged as IC 5146, the nebula is nearly 15 light-years wide, located some 4,000 light years away. Like other star forming regions, it stands out in red, glowing, hydrogen gas excited by the young, hot stars and blue, dust-reflected starlight at the edge of an otherwise invisible molecular cloud. In fact, the bright star near the center of this nebula is likely only a few hundred thousand years old, powering the nebular glow as it clears out a cavity in the molecular cloud's star forming dust and gas. But the long dusty filaments that appear dark in this visible light image are themselves hiding stars in the process of formation that can be seen seen at infrared wavelengths. via NASA http://ift.tt/1uVn9l6
Sep 18, 2014
Sunset over the Grand Teton Mountains by Donald Higgs (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl). by usinterior
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Aurora over Maine Aurora over Maine
It has been a good week for auroras. Earlier this month active sunspot region 2158 rotated into view and unleashed a series of flares and plasma ejections into the Solar System during its journey across the Sun's disk. In particular, a pair of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) impacted the Earth's magnetosphere toward the end of last week, creating the most intense geomagnetic storm so far this year. Although power outages were feared by some, the most dramatic effects of these impacting plasma clouds were auroras seen as far south as Wisconsin, USA. In the featured image taken last Friday night, rays and sheets of multicolored auroras were captured over Acadia National Park, in Maine, USA. Since another CME plasma cloud is currently approaching the Earth, tonight offers another good chance to see an impressive auroral display. via NASA http://ift.tt/1tb8zXO
Sep 17, 2014
152 years ago today 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat during the Battle of Antietam. The battle ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's first invasion into the North and led to Abraham Lincoln's issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Photo: National Park Service by usinterior
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Milky Way above Atacama Salt Lagoon Milky Way above Atacama Salt Lagoon
Galaxies, stars, and a serene reflecting pool combine to create this memorable land and skyscape. The featured panorama is a 12-image mosaic taken last month from the Salar de Atacama salt flat in northern Chile. The calm water is Laguna Cejar, a salty lagoon featuring a large central sinkhole. On the image left, the astrophotographer's fiancee is seen capturing the same photogenic scene. The night sky is lit up with countless stars, the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud galaxies on the left, and the band of our Milky Way galaxy running diagonally up the right. The Milky Way may appear to be causing havoc at the horizon, but those are just the normal lights of a nearby town. via NASA http://ift.tt/1Ddg7h6
Sep 16, 2014
62 Kilometers above Comet Churyumov Gerasimenko 62 Kilometers above Comet Churyumov Gerasimenko
Spacecraft Rosetta continues to approach, circle, and map Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Crossing the inner Solar System for ten years to reach the vicinity of the comet last month, the robotic spacecraft continues to image the unusual double-lobed comet nucleus. The reconstructed-color image featured, taken about 10 days ago, indicates how dark this comet nucleus is. On the average, the comet's surface reflects only about four percent of impinging visible light, making it as dark as coal. Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko spans about four kilometers in length and has a surface gravity so low that an astronaut could jump off of it. In about two months, Rosetta is scheduled to release the first probe ever to attempt a controlled landing on a comet's nucleus. via NASA http://ift.tt/1BF2N3w
Sep 15, 2014
Happy birthday Bryce Canyon National Park! Bryce was officially designated September 15, 1928. Photo: Brian Owen. by usinterior
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M27: The Dumbbell Nebula M27: The Dumbbell Nebula
The first hint of what will become of our Sun was discovered inadvertently in 1764. At that time, Charles Messier was compiling a list of diffuse objects not to be confused with comets. The 27th object on Messier's list, now known as M27 or the Dumbbell Nebula, is a planetary nebula, the type of nebula our Sun will produce when nuclear fusion stops in its core. M27 is one of the brightest planetary nebulae on the sky, and can be seen toward the constellation of the Fox (Vulpecula) with binoculars. It takes light about 1000 years to reach us from M27, shown above in colors emitted by hydrogen and oxygen. Understanding the physics and significance of M27 was well beyond 18th century science. Even today, many things remain mysterious about bipolar planetary nebula like M27, including the physical mechanism that expels a low-mass star's gaseous outer-envelope, leaving an X-ray hot white dwarf. via NASA http://ift.tt/1tQjfJu
Sep 14, 2014
Median Mashup: Hubble s Top 100 Median Mashup: Hubble s Top 100
Now, as you sip your cosmic latte you can view 100 Hubble Space Telescope images at the same time. The popular scenes of the cosmos as captured from low Earth orbit are all combined into this single digital presentation. To make it, Hubble's top 100 images were downloaded and resized to identical pixel dimensions. At each point the 100 pixel values were arranged from lowest to highest, and the middle or median value was chosen for the final image. The combined image results in a visual abstraction - light from across the Universe surrounded by darkness. via NASA http://ift.tt/XaFbod
Sep 13, 2014
Fall has arrived in Lake Clark National Park (#Alaska) by usinterior
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Supernova Remnant Puppis A Supernova Remnant Puppis A
Driven by the explosion of a massive star, supernova remnant Puppis A is blasting into the surrounding interstellar medium about 7,000 light-years away. At that distance, this remarkable false-color exploration of its complex expansion is about 180 light-years wide. It is based on the most complete X-ray data set so far from the Chandra and XMM/Newton observations, and infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope. In blue hues, the filamentary X-ray glow is from gas heated by the supernova's shock wave, while the infrared emission shown in red and green is from warm dust. The bright pastel tones trace the regions where shocked gas and warmed dust mingle. Light from the initial supernova itself, triggered by the collapse of the massive star's core, would have reached Earth about 3,700 years ago, though the Puppis A supernova remnant remains a strong source in the X-ray sky. via NASA http://ift.tt/1xRkUov
Sep 12, 2014
Can you believe it's already snowed @GlacierNPS? Here's a recent picture from Two Medicine Lake. Photo: Marc Ankenbauer by usinterior
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Zodiacal Light before Dawn Zodiacal Light before Dawn
You might not guess it, but sunrise was still hours away when this nightscape was taken, a view along the eastern horizon from a remote location in Chile's Atacama desert. Stretching high into the otherwise dark, starry sky the unusually bright conical glow is sunlight though, scattered by dust along the solar system's ecliptic plane . Known as Zodiacal light, the apparition is also nicknamed the "false dawn". Near center, bright star Aldebaran and the Pleiades star cluster seem immersed in the Zodiacal light, with Orion toward the right edge of the frame. Reddish emission from NGC 1499, the California Nebula, can also be seen through the tinge of airglow along the horizon. Sliding your cursor over the picture (or following this link) will label the sky over this future site of the Giant Magellan Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. via NASA http://ift.tt/1tzF2Fb
Sep 11, 2014
Fall is a wonderful time to experience Bering Land Bridge National Preserve in Alaska. Explore a dynamic wilderness dotted with hot springs, ancient lava flows, and the largest maar lakes in the world. Ramble across tundra seeking muskox, caribou, and signs of ice age life. The Bering Land Bridge provided a pathway for plants, animals, and people to cross from old world to new. Today local residents use this land just as their ancestors have for generations. by usinterior
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