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113 posts tagged Nature

May
22

It’s time for another astonishing visit the Department of Awesome Camouflage. This time we’re meeting a very special lizard. You can see the lizard in this photo, right? Don’t worry if you didn’t spot him right away. That just means he’s doing his job. This is a Satanic Leaf-tailed Gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus). Indigenous to the island of Madagascar, these amazing creatures evolved to blend into leafy undergrowth so well that some even have notches in their leaf-shaped tails that make them look even more convincingly like dry, fallen leaves. “”The gecko’s colouration can be brown or grey and it can transform itself into amazing yellow, green, orange and pink hues. Geckos are one of Madagascar’s most unique species. As they sleep flattened against trees of branches with their heads pointing downwards, they can adjust their body coloration to their surroundings. When at rest laying head down on a mossy or lichen covered branch, geckos are almost impossible to see. The gecko is a master at disguise. Its large eyes help this nocturnal species hunt its prey, large mouths are capable of tackling oversized prey.”” Visit Dailymail.co.uk to learn more about these awesome creatures. Photo taken at the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park in Madagascar. [via Environmental Graffiti, Brainz, and Dailymail.co.uk]

It’s time for another astonishing visit the Department of Awesome Camouflage. This time we’re meeting a very special lizard. You can see the lizard in this photo, right? Don’t worry if you didn’t spot him right away. That just means he’s doing his job.

This is a Satanic Leaf-tailed Gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus). Indigenous to the island of Madagascar, these amazing creatures evolved to blend into leafy undergrowth so well that some even have notches in their leaf-shaped tails that make them look even more convincingly like dry, fallen leaves.

“”The gecko’s colouration can be brown or grey and it can transform itself into amazing yellow, green, orange and pink hues. Geckos are one of Madagascar’s most unique species. As they sleep flattened against trees of branches with their heads pointing downwards, they can adjust their body coloration to their surroundings.

When at rest laying head down on a mossy or lichen covered branch, geckos are almost impossible to see. The gecko is a master at disguise. Its large eyes help this nocturnal species hunt its prey, large mouths are capable of tackling oversized prey.””

Visit Dailymail.co.uk to learn more about these awesome creatures.

Photo taken at the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park in Madagascar.

[via Environmental Graffiti, Brainz, and Dailymail.co.uk]

May
21

For a stunning series entitled Blackwater, Hawaii-based diver and photographer Joshua Lambus takes beautiful photos of luminous aquatic creatures against a perfectly black background that enables us to better appreciate just how incredibly awesome they are.

Lambus says, “Now being underwater I’m inundated with stories, struggles, triumphs. Seeing our fragile ecosystem inch ever closer to the verge of destruction pushes me to continue my work, not only for artistic value, but for a far greater purpose. I hope to tell a story and ask for help for those without a voice.”

Here’s hoping we’ll see some of these enchanting cephalopods in our dreams tonight. 

Visit My Modern Metropolis to view more of Joshua Lambus’ astonishing Blackwater series and then head over to his own website to check out more of his photographic work.

May
20

When Marina Scarr first photographed this handsome Great Horned Owl in Fort De Soto Park, Florida, she thought the noble bird was alone. It wasn’t until she looked at her photo again later on that she noticed the owl was a proud parent caring for an owlet tucked into its feathered breast. The baby raptor blends in so perfectly, it’s practically invisible. That’s got to be one of the safest, softest places on earth. It’s a pretty awesome shot. [via Telegraph.co.uk]

When Marina Scarr first photographed this handsome Great Horned Owl in Fort De Soto Park, Florida, she thought the noble bird was alone. It wasn’t until she looked at her photo again later on that she noticed the owl was a proud parent caring for an owlet tucked into its feathered breast. The baby raptor blends in so perfectly, it’s practically invisible. That’s got to be one of the safest, softest places on earth. It’s a pretty awesome shot.

[via Telegraph.co.uk]

May
17

May
10

These awesome photos, in which rolling waves appear to be both perfectly frozen in time and miraculously made solid, are the work of French photographer Pierre Carreau.

Carreau “shoots waves with a variety of high speed cameras using various macro and wide angle lenses, capturing water shapes that appear more sculptural than liquid.”

Visit his Pierre Carreau’s website to view many more examples of his amazing work. He also offers prints of some of his images via Clic Gallery.

[via Colossal]

Czech photographer Miloslav Druckmüller from the Brno University of Technology reveals the awesome beauty of the solar corona with these amazing composite images that he created by using 47 photos taken during a total solar eclipse.

To achieve the crystal clear effect the shots are comprised from some 40+ photos taken with two different lenses. Additional clarity was achieved due to the incredibly remote location chosen to view the eclipse from, a pier just outside the Enewetak Radiological Observatory on the Marshall Islands, smack dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. You can see several more images from the project at Druckmüller’s website and don’t miss this much higher resolution version including some 209 stars.

[via Colossal]

This awesomely beautiful object is part of the Fukang meteorite. Discovered near the city of Fukang in Xinjiang, China back in 2000, the 2,211 lb meteorite is a pallasite, which is a meteorite consisting of roughly equal proportions of iron and olivine. The olivine crystals are what you see catching the light in this striking photo, which was shared by Redditor kikootwo. “Pallasites are extremely rare even among meteorites (only about 1% of all meteorites are this type) and Fukang has been hailed as one of the greatest meteorite discoveries of the 21st century.” Visit Twisted Sifter to learn more about pallasite and the Fukang meteorite.

This awesomely beautiful object is part of the Fukang meteorite. Discovered near the city of Fukang in Xinjiang, China back in 2000, the 2,211 lb meteorite is a pallasite, which is a meteorite consisting of roughly equal proportions of iron and olivine. The olivine crystals are what you see catching the light in this striking photo, which was shared by Redditor kikootwo.

“Pallasites are extremely rare even among meteorites (only about 1% of all meteorites are this type) and Fukang has been hailed as one of the greatest meteorite discoveries of the 21st century.”

Visit Twisted Sifter to learn more about pallasite and the Fukang meteorite.

From the Department of Awesome Natural Phenomena comes this extraordinary photo taken by the Cassini spacecraft’s narrow-angle camera back in November 2012. This beautiful, swirling mass of deep red clouds is a mind-blowingly large hurricane taking place on the surface of Saturn. The storm measures 1,250 miles wide. Yep, that’s pretty freaking awesome. Via NASA: The spinning vortex of Saturn’s north polar storm resembles a deep red rose of giant proportions surrounded by green foliage in this false-color image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Measurements have sized the eye at a staggering 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) across with cloud speeds as fast as 330 miles per hour (150 meters per second). This image is among the first sunlit views of Saturn’s north pole captured by Cassini’s imaging cameras. When the spacecraft arrived in the Saturnian system in 2004, it was northern winter and the north pole was in darkness. Saturn’s north pole was last imaged under sunlight by NASA’s Voyager 2 in 1981; however, the observation geometry did not allow for detailed views of the poles. Consequently, it is not known how long this newly discovered north-polar hurricane has been active. [via Colossal]

From the Department of Awesome Natural Phenomena comes this extraordinary photo taken by the Cassini spacecraft’s narrow-angle camera back in November 2012. This beautiful, swirling mass of deep red clouds is a mind-blowingly large hurricane taking place on the surface of Saturn. The storm measures 1,250 miles wide. Yep, that’s pretty freaking awesome.

Via NASA:

The spinning vortex of Saturn’s north polar storm resembles a deep red rose of giant proportions surrounded by green foliage in this false-color image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Measurements have sized the eye at a staggering 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) across with cloud speeds as fast as 330 miles per hour (150 meters per second).

This image is among the first sunlit views of Saturn’s north pole captured by Cassini’s imaging cameras. When the spacecraft arrived in the Saturnian system in 2004, it was northern winter and the north pole was in darkness. Saturn’s north pole was last imaged under sunlight by NASA’s Voyager 2 in 1981; however, the observation geometry did not allow for detailed views of the poles. Consequently, it is not known how long this newly discovered north-polar hurricane has been active.

[via Colossal]

Photographer Colleen Pinski took this awesome photo of an onlooker  taking in the magnificence of an annular solar eclipse in Albuquerquee, New Mexico on May 20, 2012. The photo was one of the finalists in The Smithsonian’s annual photo contest. Colleen Pinski describes the experience of watching people watch the eclipse: “I feel it can inspire so many people around the world, no matter what race, religion or gender,” Pinski says. “Anyone can look at it and feel touched by a ‘beyond this world’ experience.” [via Smithsonian.com]

Photographer Colleen Pinski took this awesome photo of an onlooker  taking in the magnificence of an annular solar eclipse in Albuquerquee, New Mexico on May 20, 2012. The photo was one of the finalists in The Smithsonian’s annual photo contest.

Colleen Pinski describes the experience of watching people watch the eclipse: “I feel it can inspire so many people around the world, no matter what race, religion or gender,” Pinski says. “Anyone can look at it and feel touched by a ‘beyond this world’ experience.”

[via Smithsonian.com]

These awesome images of the Earth’s Sun were recently captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. They reveal the occurrence of a beautiful solar prominence - an incredibly large and bright loop of red hot plasma created as a solar flare erupted.

A burst of solar material leaps off the left side of the sun in what’s known as a prominence eruption. This image combines three images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured on May 3, 2013, at 1:45 pm EDT, just as an M5.7 class solar flare from the same region was subsiding. The images include light from the 131-, 171- and 304-angstrom wavelengths. Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA

According to experts, this is “another sign the sun is ‘waking up’ as it approaches its 11 year solar maximum, which is due later this year.” 

[via Geeks Are Sexy, Dailymail.co.uk, and NASA]

 

It’s Natural Wonders Day on Geyser of Awesome!