Contributor Posts

Top view of grafted Gymnocalycium mihanovichii (chin cactus). The host cactus has been digitally blanked out. The red body is about 3.5 cm (1.4 in) diameter. The small "moons" are 0.5–0.8 cm (0.20–0.31 in) diameter. House plant in Ooty, The Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, India. Focus stack of 89 images using PMax mode of ZereneStacker.

Timothy A. Gonsalves, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Vineyards with colourful autumn leaves at the Scheuerberg in Neckarsulm, Germany.

Roman Eisele, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Swing ride “Wellenflug” at the Herbstsend in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Mauritius fody (Foudia rubra) male, Île aux Aigrettes, Mauritius. An endangered bird, endemic to Mauritius. A wild bird that has been ringed as part of a successful conservation plan.

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

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Yes, but can your sunset do this? Looking west from Tucson, Arizona, USA one day last month, the sunset sky looked strange when it briefly lit up with the plume of a rocket launched from California a few minutes earlier. Appearing at times like a giant space fish, the impressive rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California, was so noticeable because it was backlit by the setting Sun. The Falcon 9 rocket successfully delivered to low Earth orbit 28 Starlink communications satellites. The plume from the first stage is seen on the right, while the soaring upper stage rocket is seen at the apex of the plume on the far left. The picturesque foreground includes the arms of saguaro cacti, city lights of Tucson, and the Tucson Mountains.

Photo by Wayne Showalter

Church of El Salvador, Luesia, Zaragoza, Spain. The church is located in the highest area of the nucleus of the village of Luesia, next to the remains of the old medieval castle, to which it is historically and constructively associated. Its origin dates back to the end of the 11th century with the construction of the semicircular triple apse head with a double crypt at the bottom, while the body with three naves was built throughout the 12th century and the two portals on its southern fronts and occidental already respond to models from the beginning of the 13th century. The Romanesque building underwent a profound reform though in the mid-16th century. The main altarpiece is a Romanesque piece carved in wood; polychrome and gilt. The work is attributed to Gaspar Ramos, a sculptor from Sangüesa, who executed it around 1630.

Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Reformed earth church in Scuol.

Agnes Monkelbaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.