Public Posts

Tomas Sobek on Unsplash

"Off-track crossover hiking (tramping) trip from Borland Valley to Manapouri. Fiordland National Park, New Zealand. We found these guys just before dropping back into the bush. Keas are very smart, cheeky birds"

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Why are there huge, unusual masses inside the Earth? No one is sure. By noting how earthquakes rumble through our planet's interior, humanity has discovered two deep structures that appear to have unusual temperatures and/or chemical compositions. One hypothesis holds that the superplumes are sunken debris left over from the Earth-shattering collision that created Earth's Moon about 4.5 billion years ago. A competing hypothesis is that they are graveyards for old tectonic plates that slowly slid under each other over the past few billion years. No matter their origin, the superplumes are thought to affect Earth’s surface volcanism, possibly creating, for example, island chains such as Hawaii. Also known as large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVPs), Earth's superplumes are visualized in the featured animation.

Watch NASA's Astronomy Video of the Day

Platypus or Duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) near Scottsadale, Tasmania, Australia.

Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Bernard M. Baruch (1870 -1965)  American financier, statesman, and political consultant.

Keith Champaco on Unsplash

"My friend from Australia was visiting and I promised him I would take him to one of my favorite beach spots. Little did he know that this particular spot is known for sea turtles hanging out on the beach. We named her Brooke –– meet Brooke".

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Dust pillars are like interstellar mountains. They survive because they are more dense than their surroundings, but they are slowly being eroded away by a hostile environment. Visible in the featured picture by the Hubble Space Telescope is the end of a huge gas and dust pillar in the Trifid Nebula (M20), punctuated by a smaller pillar pointing up and an unusual jet pointing to the upper left. Many of the bright dots are newly formed stars. A star near the small pillar's end is slowly being stripped of its accreting gas by radiation from a tremendously brighter star situated off the top of the image. The jet extends nearly a light-year and would not be visible without external illumination. As gas and dust evaporate from the pillars, the hidden stellar source of this jet will likely be uncovered, possibly over the next 20,000 years. Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator

Boat poled through a mangrove arch, Ashtamudi Lake, Kollam, Kerala, India.

This Photo was taken by Timothy A. Gonsalves. Feel free to use my photos, but please mention me as the author. I would much appreciate if you send me an email tagooty@yahoo.com or write on my talk page, for my information. Please contact me before commercial use. Please do not upload an edited image here without consulting me. I would like to make corrections only at my own source to ensure that the changes improve the image and are preserved.Otherwise you may upload an edited image with a new name. Please use one of the templates derivative or extract., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Ray Hennessy on Unsplash

"This Carolina Wren flew in to the feeders that I had hanging from this gorgeous branch and after having its fill of food it hopped up onto the branch and gave me a few poses. This was my favorite as it stood up tall and right in the one opening in the branches. I had set up to shoot backlit for the feeders because I knew the sun would be too bright for a front lit shot and would look harsh. Using backlight and a row of dark green bushes in shade I was able to capture this dramatically lit shot of the little bird and the beautiful pink spring cherry blossoms".