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Sep 14, 2015
Located at the crossroads of the Cascade, Klamath, and Siskiyou mountain ranges, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in #oregon has long been recognized for its ecological importance. The convergence of three geologically distinct mountain ranges resulted in an area with remarkable biological diversity. The #pacificcresttrail meanders 19 miles through the monument, offering challenging hikes with stunning views. Photo by Bob Wick, @mypubliclands by usinterior
A Partial Solar Eclipse over Texas A Partial Solar Eclipse over Texas
It was a typical Texas sunset except that most of the Sun was missing. The location of the missing piece of the Sun was not a mystery -- it was behind the Moon. Featured here is one of the more interesting images taken of a partial solar eclipse that occurred in 2012, capturing a temporarily crescent Sun setting in a reddened sky behind brush and a windmill. The image was taken about 20 miles west of Sundown, Texas, USA, just after the ring of fire effect was broken by the Moon moving away from the center of the Sun. Today a new partial solar eclipse of the Sun will be visible from Earth. Unfortunately for people who live in Texas, today's eclipse can only be seen from southern Africa and Antarctica. via NASA http://ift.tt/1VV4kN6
Sep 13, 2015
ISS Double Transit ISS Double Transit
Not once, but twice the International Space Station transits the Sun on consecutive orbits of planet Earth in this video frame composite. The scene was captured on August 22 from a single well-chosen location in Schmalenbeck, Germany where the ISS created intersecting shadow paths only around 7 kilometers wide. Crossing the solar disk in a second or less, the transits themselves were separated in time by about 90 minutes, corresponding to the space station's orbital period. While the large, flare-producing sunspot group below center, AR 2043, remained a comfortable 150 million kilometers away, the distance between camera and orbiting station was 656 kilometers for its first (upper) transit and 915 kilometers for the second more central transit. In sharp silhouette the ISS is noticeably larger in angular size during the closer, first pass. Of course, tomorrow the Moon will transit the Sun. But even at well-chosen locations, its dark, central shadow just misses the Earth's surface creating a partial solar eclipse. via NASA http://ift.tt/1ggI2oH
Sep 12, 2015
Once nearly eliminated by fur hunters, #seaotters have made a spectacular comeback throughout the North Pacific following protection in 1911 and reintroductions about 30 years ago. Recently otters have found their way into Glacier Bay #NationalPark in #Alaska, and their numbers are now at over 3,000 in #GlacierBay. Sea otters live near shore waters that are less than 54 meters deep. Their habitats are near reefs, rocky shores and thick kelp forests. Photo courtesy of Becky King. by usinterior
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A Giant Squid in the Flying Bat A Giant Squid in the Flying Bat
Very faint but also very large on planet Earth's sky, a giant Squid Nebula cataloged as Ou4, and Sh2-129 also known as the Flying Bat Nebula, are both caught in this scene toward the royal constellation Cepheus. Composed with a total of 20 hours of broadband and narrowband data, the telescopic field of view is almost 4 degrees or 8 Full Moons across. Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula's alluring bipolar shape is distinguished here by the telltale blue-green emission from doubly ionized oxygen atoms. Though apparently completely surrounded by the reddish hydrogen emission region Sh2-129, the true distance and nature of the Squid Nebula have been difficult to determine. Still, a recent investigation suggests Ou4 really does lie within Sh2-129 some 2,300 light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, Ou4 would represent a spectacular outflow driven by a triple system of hot, massive stars, cataloged as HR8119, seen near the center of the nebula. If so, the truly giant Squid Nebula would physically be nearly 50 light-years across. via NASA http://ift.tt/1NlcUBL
Sep 11, 2015
With its deep, blue lake and sheer surrounding cliffs, #CraterLake is like no place else on Earth. Brian Gailey (@briangaileyphotography) captured this image in the early morning of Labor Day this year at Crater Lake #NationalPark’s Discovery Point in #Oregon. A faint pink aurora can be seen on the horizon in between Hillman Peak and Llao Rock in front of the Big Dipper as the quarter moon rises in the east. Photo courtesy of Brian Gailey (@briangaileyphotography). by usinterior
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On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, the United States came under attack when four commercial airliners were hijacked in an act of terrorism. Two planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and a third into the Pentagon in Virginia. Nearly 3,000 people tragically lost their lives. Because of the actions of the 40 passengers and crew aboard the fourth plane, Flight 93, the U.S. Capitol was saved. Everyone remembers where they were and how they felt when they heard the terrible news, but for future generations lacking that emotional memory, the Flight 93 National Memorial provides a connection to the people and events that changed the course of the history. By visiting this place and hearing their stories, those who were taken will never be forgotten. Today the National Park Service, its volunteers, and its partners work to honor their sacrifice and to try to understand more fully the legacy of Flight 93 and the other events of 9/11. We will #NeverForget. To learn more about our efforts to share this important story, go to: http://on.doi.gov/1Kfm5m9 Photo from the Flight 93 National Memorial by Tami A. Heilemann, Interior Department by usinterior
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NGC 4372 and the Dark Doodad NGC 4372 and the Dark Doodad
The delightful Dark Doodad Nebula drifts through southern skies, a tantalizing target for binoculars in the constellation Musca, The Fly. The dusty cosmic cloud is seen against rich starfields just south of the prominent Coalsack Nebula and the Southern Cross. Stretching for about 3 degrees across this scene the Dark Doodad is punctuated at its southern tip (lower left) by globular star cluster NGC 4372. Of course NGC 4372 roams the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy, a background object some 20,000 light-years away and only by chance along our line-of-sight to the Dark Doodad. The Dark Doodad's well defined silhouette belongs to the Musca molecular cloud, but its better known alliterative moniker was first coined by astro-imager and writer Dennis di Cicco in 1986 while observing Comet Halley from the Australian outback. The Dark Doodad is around 700 light-years distant and over 30 light-years long. via NASA http://ift.tt/1K9sYRz
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