Splendid Cosmos: 2013

Thursday 26 December 2013

Erupting Volcanoes To Surreal Cloud Formations.

From erupting volcanoes to surreal cloud formations, here are the most beautiful images NASA took of Earth from space this year.

Sunday 15 December 2013

"Into The Atmosphere" Time-lapse Video By Michael Shainblum

This video was an ongoing project for a year using 12,400 images from about 75,000 taken, about stunning time-lapse of the landscape of California. “Into The Atmosphere,” is tribute to the state of California and the striking deserts, mountains and coastlines that exist there. This video showcases a diversity of national state parks as well as less recognized natural areas. This lovely video also focuses on clouds, fog and interesting atmospheric conditions. Even though California is famous for blue sunshine skies, seeing a colorful storm cloud over Half Dome or an incredible sunset at the La Jolla Coves is truly a sight to see. The goal of this video is to show these environments in their best possible light.

National Geographic Travel's Shot Illuminating World Gallery

National Geographic just created an inspiring new gallery with the images submitted to their shot community. Called National Geographic Travel's Your Shot Illuminating the World gallery, it contains stunning light-filled images taken by photographers all around the world. From a classic photo of an Italian village perched high above a coast to Tokyo's brilliant display of a million LED lights, come see how places in all corners of the Earth come alive at night.

Yi Peng Festival, Thailand

Pitlochry, Scotland

Shanghai Highways

Holiday Display in Tokyo

Ranohira, Madagascar

Manarola, Italy

Shadow Mountain

You can see triangular shadow cast by Mount Hood in northern Oregon, USA. The photo was actualy taken by Scott Hotaling who made the ascent from the south side during pre-dawn hours.As for why a jagged mountain casts a perfectly triangular shadow.

Photograph by SCOTT HOTALING

Website | Flickr | Facebook | Prints available

via Scott Hotaling on Flickr

Friday 6 December 2013

Hilariously Frog Arrogantly Riding a Beetle

Apart National Geographic's photo contests, the Sony World Photography Awards is one of other most favorite photo competitions to write about. For years now, we have showcased their standout entries and announced their winners.One of this year's early entries is this perfectly-timed photo of a tree frog arrogantly riding a beetle. Taken by photographer Nicolas Reusens Boden, it's hilariously called, The Knight and His Steed.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Grand Canyon Filled with Rare Weather Phenomenon or Fog

What an awe-inspiring sight! A few days ago, on Friday, November 29, The Grand Canyon was taken over by a rare weather phenomenon that filled the entire canyon with a thick layer of fog. The occurrence, called a temperature inversion, caused everyone, including rangers, to flock to the rim to take photos of it. As the Grand Canyon National Park Facebook page stated, "Rangers wait for years to see it. Word spread like wildfire and most ran to the rim to photograph it. What a fantastic treat for all!"

Sunday 1 December 2013

Amazing Image of Sydney Through A Glass

Indeed this is very creative capture by Daniel Roberts, we see part of the iconic Sydney skyline reflected in a Kirribilli wine glass. Along with the popular Sydney Opera House you can also see the RMS Queen Mary 2. The optic phenomenon that is causing the image to flip upside down is known as refraction. To learn more about refraction check out thisWikipedia entry.

via Daniel Roberts (New Dan on Flickr)

Floating Biodome Absorbs Carbon Dioxide, Emits Oxygen

The Bloom is a futuristic take on marine farming designed by French firm Sitbon Architectes that was chosen as one of 5 finalists for the first Architizer A+ Awards in the "architecture and weather" category. The spherical structure is well designed to be a semi-submersible laboratory garden, cultivating microscopic marine organisms famous as phytoplankton that produce oxygen and aid in plummeting the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The floating structure is espically designed to be tethered to the seabed by a series of cables and uses an advanced filtration system to make salt-water into fresh-water for the onboard residents. An everlasting staff of researchers, scientists, and marine biologists would live aboard the vessel, screening the ongoing experiments and using the phytoplankton farms to lower carbon-dioxide levels in areas of requires across the globe. Bloom would also be able to detect infinitesimal changes in the surrounding waters to assist alert nearby nations of impending tsunamis. Eventually, the goal of the project is to address both global warming and the rapidly rising sea-levels.

Sitbon Architectes' website

Unbelievable Light Painting Portrait in Seoul Korea

As part of this year's in recent times wrapped National Geographic Photo Contest, photographer Sungjin Kim entered this incredible light painting portrait. Like As we have seen a few times before, a piece of steel wool was spun to produce a brilliant cascade of sparks. Love how this was taken right in the middle of a busy metropolitan city and how the light painting effect is intensified by the reflection in the water. This is one of best picture I ever see.Playing with fire beside the canal in the modern city. Songdo, South Korea

Photo and caption by Sungjin Kim/National Geographic Photo Contest

Massive Wave Result of a Powerful Storm

The vigor of the Ocean is perfectly timed image by Tiago Pinheiro, you can view the massive waves crashing into the pier at Praia da Aguda in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal. The waves were the result of a powerful storm at sea on October 15, 2012.

Wednesday 27 November 2013

Russian peninsula of Kamchatka is a land of volcanoes

The Russian peninsula of Kamchatka is a land of volcanoes. During my journey there between October 14 to 26, 2013, I visited the active volcanoes Klyuchevskoy and Sheveluch. The former erupted for the first time in three years. During its strongest eruptive phase (shown above), lava fountains rose up to 0.6 mi (1 kilometer) above the summit dome, and explosions could be heard at a distance of 19 mi (30 kilometer) away. Note the funnel shaped cloud of steam and smoke more than Klyuchevskoy's concealed, volcanic cone. picture taken on October 16, 2013, at a distance of approximately 9.5 mi (15 km).

Photographer: Marc Szeglat; Marc's Web site

Author Summary: Marc Szeglat

Photo details: Camera Maker: Panasonic; Camera Model: DMC-GH3; Focal Length: 35.0mm (35mm equivalent: 70mm); Aperture: f/2.8; Exposure Time: 3.200 s; ISO equiv: 500.

Saturday 23 November 2013

The Richat Structure, Mauritania

The Richat Structure is famous for mysterious Eye of Africa. The structure, situated in central Mauritania, was first discovered by astronauts on early space missions. The formation is around 30 miles in diameter. The first theory of its origin implied that it formed as a result of a meteorite hitting the Earth. Although in more modern theories, the uplift is supposed to be the result of erosion. Researchers have yet failed to explain the circular form of the structure.

Friday 8 November 2013

Colorful Creatures Stinging Nettle Slug Caterpillars

Stinging nettle slug caterpillars are gorgeous, colourful creatures found in most tropical parts of the world. They have urticating hairs (barbed bristles) to defend themselves from predators. Australian photographer John Hortsman captured this image near Yunnan, China

Eclipse at 44,000 Feet

Flying at 44,000 feet (13,000 meters), eclipse chasers on a chartered jet managed to intercept the Moon's shadow over the Atlantic Ocean during the November 3, 2013, solar eclipse. The remarkable flight made a perpendicular crossing of the central shadow track. The photograph below was taken by Ben Cooper of Launch Photography.

Unseen Sea HD Video from Simon Christen

This is the most beautiful video ever made by Simon Christen. Yes this is amazing! There are quite some timelapse videos going around on the web. And I can't get enough of it.. This one is one of the better I've seen.

The Unseen Sea from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

Whale Sharks

Chew on this: whale sharks have about 3,000 teeth, but they aren't used for feeding. As “filter feeders,” whale sharks eat plankton and other tiny organisms, and their rows of tiny chompers (just 3 mm, or about 1/10-inch, each) are remnants of their evolutionary past.

Hawksbill Sea Turtle

A hawksbill sea turtle swims past batfish and barracuda in this stunning image by photographer David Doubilet.

Thursday 31 October 2013

The most bizarre and haunting lifeforms on Earth

Just in time for Halloween: the most bizarre and haunting lifeforms on Earth, like this sea angel. Perhaps they'll insipire a last-minute costume idea.

Thursday 17 October 2013

Winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013

Winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013
2013: Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year - Grand Title Winner

The shortlist includes hundred images that are first separated into two age groups, Adult and Young and then by category wise, Animal Portraits, Underwater World and Creative Vision. Out of all those images, here were the top 18 images.

Mother’s Little Headful Photo: Udayan Rao Pawar (India)

Winners of the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition were just announced where more than 43,000 images from 96 countries were whittled down to just 18. Now in its 49th year, the competition showcases the very most excellent in nature photography and is led by two UK institutions, the Natural History Museum and BBC Worldwide.