Category Archives: Ah, Wilderness!

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Photos of the Earth

Many of the photographs in this entry and the next few are from APOD, Astronomy Photo of the Day [recommended] or the NASA Image of the Day [also recommended].

Regarding this first image which got a lot of attention: it’s not a photograph, per se. It’s a rendering of data. Mind blowing in more than one way.

Viral Image The Biggest and Bluest Marble – Kara Swisher – Media – AllThingsD

Enjoy:

(Image Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring)

APOD 2012 January 3 – A Full Sky Aurora Over Norway

2012 January 3

A Full Sky Aurora Over Norway
Image Credit & Copyright: Sebastian Voltmer

APOD 2011 October 28 – October Skylights

2011 October 28

October Skylights
Image Credit & Copyright: Malcolm Park

Fire in the Sky and on the Ground Image of the Day

acquired September 17, 2011

Amazing Time-lapse Video of Auroras as Seen From the ISS [Video] – How-To Geek

APOD 2012 January 1 – To Fly Free in Space

2012 January 1

To Fly Free in Space
STS-41B, NASA

Amazing Space Photo From Twitter – Peter Kafka – Social – AllThingsD

Here’s one NASA’s Ron Garan beamed to earth yesterday from his perch in the International Space Station.

His caption: “This is what the Moon looked like 16 times today #FromSpace We had simultaneous sunsets + moonsets”

APOD 2011 November 14 – Waterfall, Moonbow, and Aurora from Iceland

2011 November 14

Waterfall, Moonbow, and Aurora from Iceland
Image Credit & Copyright: Stephane Vetter (Nuits sacrees)

The long shadow of Mt. Rainier Bad Astronomy Discover Magazine

Here in Boulder we get magnificent sunsets, especially in the summer when the clouds interplay with the mountains to the west. But I have never seen anything like this: the shadow of Washington state’s Mt. Rainier cast along the clouds at sunrise:

That’s amazing. Mt. Rainier is a volcano, climbing to a height of over 14,000 feet (4300 meters).

Love and Joy for the New Year Image of the Day

acquired December 21, 2011download large image (341 KB, JPEG, 2128×1416)

In November and December 2011, professional and amateur astronomers reveled in observing a sun-grazing comet that dove close to the Sun and survived for a return flight back to the outer solar system. Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) enjoyed their own surreal view of the comet as it appeared on Earth’s horizon on the day of the solstice.

ISS Commander Dan Burbank captured a series of digital photographs of Comet Lovejoy on December 21, 2011, as it rose above Earth’s limb

Nickel Cobalt

$This up to 1000 years old snow has metamorphosed into highly pressurized glacier ice that contains almost no air bubbles. Thus it absorbs the visible light despite the scattered shortest blue fraction, giving it its distinct deep blue waved appearance. This cavity in the glacier ice formed as a result of a glacial mill, or moulin. Rain and meltwater on the glacier surface is channelled into streams that enter the glacier at crevices. The waterfall melts a hole into the glacier while the ponded water drains towards lower elevations by forming long ice caves with an outlet at the terminus of the glacier. The fine grained sediments in the water along with wind blown sediments cause the frozen meltwater stream to appear in a muddy colour while the top of the cave exhibits the deep blue colour. Due to the fast movement of the glacier of about 1 m per day over uneven terrain this ice cave cracked up at its end into a deep vertical crevice, called cerrac. This causes the indirect daylight to enter the ice cave from both ends resulting in homogeneous lighting of the ice tunnel.$

This up to 1000 years old snow has metamorphosed into highly pressurized glacier ice that contains almost no air bubbles. Thus it absorbs the visible light despite the scattered shortest blue fraction, giving it its distinct deep blue waved appearance. This cavity in the glacier ice formed as a result of a glacial mill, or moulin.

Photos of the Earth is a post from: Ah, Wilderness!. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

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The Big Picture from The Boston Globe [recommended]

Wed 02/01/12 mjh

Each week, The Big Picture features one long page full of photos of a current event. These photos are always very professional and gorgeous, appearing in a large format. My one complaint is that scrolling inevitably fails to line most of the photos up correctly; I wish there were a better mechanism for moving between photos.

2012 Marking the New Year – The Big Picture – Boston.com

Around the world people celebrated with fireworks, kisses, blessings, gatherings, cheers, watching the sunrise and plunges into icy bodies of water to welcome in a new year. Here’s a look back at how some of them marked the transition. – Lloyd Young (41 photos total)

Fireworks explode in the sky over Bucharest, Romania, at midnight, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012, during street celebrations of the new year. Large crowds gathered downtown Romania’s capital taking advantage of the dry weather to attend the celebrations. (Vadim Ghirda/Associated Press)

The Year in Pictures Part I – The Big Picture – Boston.com

(36 photos total)

A wave caused by a tsunami flows into the city of Miyako from the Heigawa estuary in Iwate Prefecture after a magnitude 8.9 earthquake struck Japan March 11, 2011. (Mainichi Shimbun /Reuters)

The year in Pictures Part II – The Big Picture – Boston.com

(45 photos total)

A cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano near Osorno in southern Chile, 870 km south of Santiago, on June 5. Puyehue volcano erupted for the first time in half a century on June 4, 2011, prompting evacuations for 3,500 people as it sent a cloud of ash that reached Argentina. The National Service of Geology and Mining said the explosion that sparked the eruption also produced a column of gas 10 kilometers (six miles) high, hours after warning of strong seismic activity in the area. (Claudio Santana/AFP/Getty Images) )

The Year in Pictures Part III – The Big Picture – Boston.com

(51 photos total)

A defaced portrait of fugitive Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi in Tripoli on Sept. 1, 2011 as the fallen strongman vowed again not to surrender in a message broadcast on the 42nd anniversary of the coup which brought him to power. (Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images)

The Big Picture from The Boston Globe [recommended] is a post from: Ah, Wilderness!. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

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Los Lunas – Belen – Bernardo Birding Daytrip

Mon 01/16/12 mjh

I took a day trip to various birding hotspots south of Albuquerque, but not as far south as Mecca (Bosque del Apache). My guide was Birding Hot Spots of Central New Mexico, by Judy Liddell and Barbara Hussey, plus GPS and some time spent with Google Earth beforehand. One trip is not enough to evaluate these spots – their inclusion in the book may be enough of a rating. Certainly, I will return to Bernardo, which is so much closer than Mecca but *almost* as beautiful and bird-full (no place is as beautiful as Bosque del Apache). I wish Bosque del Apache would mimic the blinds and overlooks at Bernardo, which has two fantastic trails through high bushes around a pond.

Highlights included quite a few kestrels, a northern harrier at Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area, lots of sandhill cranes and snow geese, a song sparrow, and several rufous-sided towhees, all at Bernardo.

Los Lunas – Belen – Bernardo, New Mexico

Note: Photos contain GPS data and can be mapped online.

I had not luck locating Belen Waterfowl Management Area off Jarales Road (a lovely drive). The official map of the area is dreadfully vague. Nor did I see any indication along the road of Casa Colorada WMA.

See Judy Liddell’s blog for much more information: It’s a bird thing…

Los Lunas – Belen – Bernardo Birding Daytrip is a post from Ah, Wilderness! . Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

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The Rio Grande Bosque is a treasure we all need to visit more

Wed 01/11/12 mjh

We’ve walked in various parts of the bosque (riparian woods, primarily cottonwoods) within Albuquerque over the years. A year ago, our walk resulted in one of my favorite photos of the year (coyote with ducks, a prize winner). This year, we watched a Northern Harrier (Marsh Hawk) stand in the river, one foot pinning its prey in the current. And there was a disheveled merlin, a handsome shoveler, a snipe, and a plethora of robins. I’ve added 9 pictures to the album (19 total).

A Walk in Albuquerque’s Bosque

The Rio Grande Bosque is a treasure we all need to visit more is a post from Ah, Wilderness! . Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

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Stunning kingfisher photos from Israel by the Birdchick

Wed 12/07/11 mjh

Dynamite Kingfishers Of The Hula Valley : Birdchick

One of the big highlights visiting the Hula Valley in Israel was all the kingfisher action. This is a pied kingfisher, about the size and shape of belted kingfishers but are all crazy black and white. [Copyright © Birdchick.]