07/04/20

Fallstreak Holes

Occasionally clouds appear to have a hole in them; these are known as fallstreak holes or hole-punch clouds. (Image credit: J. Stevens/NASA; via NASA Earth Observatory) Read the full article

Lightning inside a volcanic ash cloud in Patagonia.

Light pillars are a rare optical phenomenon in which ice crystals in the atmosphere reflect sources of light in a vertical formation. Long, illuminated beams can form above or below sources of artificial or natural light due to the air being extremely cold.

The Best of Hubble_1

Charon, moon of Pluto, observed by NASA's New Horizons probe just before closest approach on this day in 2015. (It flew within 12,500 km of Pluto and as close as 27,000 km to Charon.)

Neptune♆

Neptune is the planet of mystery and allusion. Its power is that of imagination. Neptune represents your dream life and your mystic qualities. It is the planet of bewitchment. Anyone who has had an artistic vision, or is drawn to spiritual matters, or has experienced an unusual and unexplainable event has felt the power of Neptune. Neptune’s realm is the subconscious world, hidden memory, intuition and clairvoyance. Neptune’s power is subtle, ethereal, inspirational, and otherworldly. 

Parkes Observatory

The Parkes Observatory (also known informally as “The Dish”) is a radio telescope observatory, located 20 kilometres north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. It was one of several radio antennae used to receive live television images of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Its scientific contributions over the decades led the ABC to describe it as “the most successful scientific instrument ever built in Australia” after 50 years of operation.

The Parkes Observatory is run by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), as part of the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) network of radio telescopes. It is frequently operated together with other CSIRO radio telescopes, principally the array of six 22-metre (72 ft) dishes at the Australia Telescope Compact Array near Narrabri, and a single 22-metre (72 ft) dish at Mopra (near Coonabarabran), to form a very long baseline interferometry array. source

Neptune from Voyager 2 by NASA