#Haleakala #NationalPark in #Hawaii is a special place with stark volcanic landscapes and a subtropical rain forest. Chris Archer (@Archer357) captured this amazing shot of Oheo Gulch illuminated at night. Part of the park's Kipahulu District, Oheo Gulch is known for its beautifully tiered, pools fed by waterfalls. Photo courtesy of @Archer357. by usinterior

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Yesterday, visitors to the #GrandCanyon National Park (@grandcanyonnps) in #Arizona got to see this rare and amazing sight. This meteorological phenomenon is called a total cloud inversion, and it happens when the air near the ground is cooler than the air above it, creating a blanket of clouds. Photo of the total inversion near Desert View by Maci MacPherson, #NationalPark Service. by usinterior

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Moondog Night Moondog Night

In this night scene from the early hours of November 14, light from a last quarter Moon illuminates clouds above the mountaintop domes of Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. Bright Jupiter is just left of the overexposed lunar disk with a streak of camera lens flare immediately to the right, but that's no fireball meteor exploding near the center of the picture. Instead, from the roadside perspective a stunningly bright moondog or paraselene stands directly over Kitt Peaks's WIYN telescope. Analogous to a sundog or parhelion, a paraselene is produced by moonlight refracted through thin, hexagonal, plate-shaped ice crystals in high cirrus clouds. As determined by the crystal geometry, paraselenae (plural) are seen at an angle of 22 degrees or more from the Moon. Compared to the bright lunar disk they are more often faint and easier to spot when the Moon is low. About 10 minutes after the photograph even this bright moondog had faded from the night. via NASA http://ift.tt/1DevmJg

Cool photo of a Bald Eagle swallowing its dinner. Photographer Rob Daugherty (@robswildlife) captured this action shot at #LakeClark #NationalPark and Preserve in #Alaska. After swooping down to pick up a fish in a lake, the eagle took its catch to a tree to eat. The thing in the eagle's mouth is the fish's tail as the bird finishes its meal. Photo courtesy of @robswildlife. by usinterior

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America's public lands have some of the best #sunrises, like this one at #Acadia National Park in #Maine. This gorgeous photo was taken from #CadillacMountain, the tallest mountain on the east coast and a popular place to watch the sun rise. Photo by Kristi Rugg, #NationalPark Service. by usinterior

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The Reddening of M71 The Reddening of M71

Now known to be a globular star cluster at the tender age of 10 billion years, M71 is a mere 13,000 light-years away within the narrow boundaries of the faint constellation Sagitta. Close to the plane of the Milky Way galaxy in planet Earth's sky, its 10,000 or so member stars are gathered into a region about 27 light-years across near the center of this color composite view. In fact, the line-of-sight to M71 passes along the galactic plane through much intervening diffuse interstellar dust. The dust dims starlight and scatters blue light more efficiently, masking the brightness of M71's stars and shifting true star colors toward the red. How much are the star colors shifted? Slide your cursor over the image (or follow this link) to use an estimate of the dust reddening or galactic extinction to correct the star colors in M71. Corrections to the brightness and colors of M71 member stars are needed to measure the cluster's distance and age using a Color-Magnitude diagram. via NASA http://ift.tt/1IxTLtw

#Canyonlands #NationalPark preserves 337,598 acres of colorful canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches and spires in the heart of southeast #Utah's high desert. William Rainey captured this amazing photo of early morning light illuminating part of the park's iconic Mesa Arch and the surrounding rock formations. Of the experience, William says, "Sometimes the best photo is not the one you came for." Photo courtesy of William Rainey. by usinterior

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Situated in the northern reaches of #Washington State’s Salish Sea, the #SanJuan Islands are a uniquely beautiful archipelago of more than 450 islands, rocks, and pinnacles. Within this area, the San Juan Islands #NationalMonument encompasses nearly 1,000 acres on 75 rocks and islands. Woodlands, grasslands and wetlands are intermixed with rocky balds, bluffs, intertidal areas and sandy beaches. The San Juan Islands is one of three new vintage posters that celebrate @mypubliclands. by usinterior

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The Flame Nebula in Visible and Infrared The Flame Nebula in Visible and Infrared

What lights up the Flame Nebula? Fifteen hundred light years away towards the constellation of Orion lies a nebula which, from its glow and dark dust lanes, appears, on the left, like a billowing fire. But fire, the rapid acquisition of oxygen, is not what makes this Flame glow. Rather the bright star Alnitak, the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion visible just to the right of the nebula, shines energetic light into the Flame that knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine. The above false-color picture of the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) was taken is a composite of both visible and infrared light, the later energy band being where a young star cluster becomes visible. The Flame Nebula is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a star-forming region that includes the famous Horsehead Nebula. via NASA http://ift.tt/1z1ealn

#TronaPinnacles is one of the most unusual geologic wonders in the #California Desert. This unique landscape consists of more than 500 tufa pinnacles -- some as tall as 140 feet -- rising from the bed of the Searles Dry Lake basin. Michael Shainblum (@shainblumphotography) captured this dramatic photo of Trona Pinnacles at #sunset, which is a popular time to visit the sight. Photo courtesy of @shainblumphotography. by usinterior

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