via Instagram http://ift.tt/1B6O0Pl
Mar 4, 2015
Nicknamed a Land of Giants, Kings Canyon #NationalPark's landscape testifies to nature's size, beauty and diversity -- huge mountains, rugged foothills, deep canyons, vast caverns and the world's largest trees. #KingsCanyon was created 75 years ago today, encompassing 454,000 acres of pristine #SierraNevada wilderness in #California. Nearly half the park is above timberline and two dozen peaks extend above 13,000 feet. The Pacific Crest and #JohnMuir trails pass through cathedrals of glaciated valleys and domes, including Evolution Valley and Sixty Lakes Basin. Pictured here is the park's stunning #BullfrogLake by David Palefsky (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl). Celebrate Kings Canyon's birthday today with free entrance to the park and it's sister park Sequoia National Park! by usinterior
A Dust Devil on Mars A Dust Devil on Mars
It was late in the northern martian spring when the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spied this local denizen. Tracking across the flat, dust-covered Amazonis Planitia in 2012, the core of this whirling dust devil is about 140 meters in diameter. Lofting dust into the thin martian atmosphere, its plume reaches about 20 kilometers above the surface. Common to this region of Mars, dust devils occur as the surface is heated by the Sun, generating warm, rising air currents that begin to rotate. Tangential wind speeds of up to 110 kilometers per hour are reported for dust devils in other HiRISE images. via NASA http://ift.tt/1AT49Jt
Mar 3, 2015
It's #WorldWildlifeDay -- a day dedicated to raising awareness of the world’s wildlife. America's national parks, wildlife refuges and other #publiclands are home to a diverse set of wildlife, like these two cute bear cubs at #Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. This 67,000-acre park spans #NewJersey and #Pennsylvania and features forested mountains, riverine valleys and fertile floodplains. Photo by Keith Frerichs (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl). by usinterior
via Instagram http://ift.tt/1GP912Y
Happy 166th birthday to us! On this day in 1849, the Interior Department was established to take charge of the nation's internal affairs. Today, @usinterior is responsible for conserving America's natural resources and public lands, like #Yosemite #NationalPark pictured here. Photo of the Yosemite Valley on a spring day by Lesli Cohan (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl). by usinterior
via Instagram http://ift.tt/1DFhYZp
Lenticular Cloud, Moon, Mars, Venus Lenticular Cloud, Moon, Mars, Venus
It is not every day that such an interesting cloud photobombs your image. The original plan was to photograph a rare angular conjunction of Mars and Venus that occurred a week and a half ago, with the added bonus of a crescent Moon and the International Space Station (ISS) both passing nearby. Unfortunately, on Madeira Island, Portugal, this event was clouded out. During the next day, however, a spectacular lenticular cloud appeared before sunset, so the industrious astrophotographer quickly formulated a new plan. A close look at the resulting image reveals the Moon visible toward the left of the frame, while underneath, near the bottom, are the famous planets with Venus being the brighter. It was the unexpected lenticular cloud, though, perhaps looking like some sort of futuristic spaceship, that stole the show. The setting Sun illuminated the stationary cloud (and everything else) from the bottom, setting up an intricate pattern of shadows, layers, and brightly illuminated regions, all seen evolving in a corresponding video. Mars and Venus will next appear this close on the sky in late August, but whether any place on Earth will catch them behind such a photogenic cloud is unknown. via NASA http://ift.tt/18f5oqJ
Mar 2, 2015
Inside the Coma Cluster of Galaxies Inside the Coma Cluster of Galaxies
Almost every object in the above photograph is a galaxy. The Coma Cluster of Galaxies pictured above is one of the densest clusters known - it contains thousands of galaxies. Each of these galaxies houses billions of stars - just as our own Milky Way Galaxy does. Although nearby when compared to most other clusters, light from the Coma Cluster still takes hundreds of millions of years to reach us. In fact, the Coma Cluster is so big it takes light millions of years just to go from one side to the other! The above mosaic of images of a small portion of Coma was taken in unprecedented detail in 2006 by the Hubble Space Telescope to investigate how galaxies in rich clusters form and evolve. Most galaxies in Coma and other clusters are ellipticals, although some imaged here are clearly spirals. The spiral galaxy on the upper left of the above image can also be found as one of the bluer galaxies on the upper left of this wider field image. In the background thousands of unrelated galaxies are visible far across the universe. via NASA http://ift.tt/1Bs4u6m
Mar 1, 2015
Happy 143rd birthday, #Yellowstone National Park! On this day in 1872, @Yellowstonenps became the first #nationalpark -- starting a worldwide movement to protect special places. Today, millions visit Yellowstone to discover the park's geysers and mud pots, forests and lakes, and historic cabins and prehistoric sites -- not to mention it's stunning waterfalls. Pictured here is a #rainbow at #LowerFalls on the park's Uncle Tom trail. Photo by Kallem Phillips (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl). by usinterior
via Instagram http://ift.tt/1E69Dl6
Moon Venus Mars Skyline Moon Venus Mars Skyline
Taken on February 20, five different exposures made in rapid succession were used to created this tantalizing telephoto image. In combination, they reveal a wide range of brightness visible to the eye on that frigid evening, from the urban glow of the Quebec City skyline to the triple conjunction of Moon, Venus and Mars. Shortly after sunset the young Moon shows off its bright crescent next to brilliant Venus. Fainter Mars is near the top of the frame. Though details in the Moon's sunlit crescent are washed out, features on the dark, shadowed part of the lunar disk are remarkably clear. Still lacking city lights the lunar night is illuminated solely by earthshine, light reflected from the sunlit side of planet Earth. via NASA http://ift.tt/1LU3clN
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