I just thought I’d start a thread where anyone can post anything that they find interesting on the internet here. It can be a video, photo, article, site or whatever floats your boat within reason, I suppose.
I’l start with this video I ran across a few months back. It still takes my breath away everytime I view it:
Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Rietze (Alien Landscapes on Planet
Earth)
Explanation: Why does a volcanic eruption sometimes create lightning?
Pictured above, the Sakurajima volcano in southern Japan was caught
erupting in early January. Magma bubbles so hot they glow shoot away
as liquid rock bursts through the Earth’s surface from below. The
above image is particularly notable, however, for the lightning bolts
caught near the volcano’s summit. Why lightning occurs even in common
thunderstorms remains a topic of research, and the cause of volcanic
lightning is even less clear. Surely, lightning bolts help quench
areas of opposite but separated electric charges. One hypothesis holds
that catapulting magma bubbles or volcanic ash are themselves
electrically charged, and by their motion create these separated
areas. Other volcanic lightning episodes may be facilitated by
charge-inducing collisions in volcanic dust. Lightning is usually
occurring somewhere on Earth, typically over 40 times each second.
I’ve never seen noctilucent clouds in my life, but I’ve been lucky enough to see several displays of the northern lights in my neck of the wood . Some of those displays were spectacular although sadly it’s been about a decade since I’ve seen them at all. I had a few of chances for viewing this year, but I either slept though them or the weather wasn’t cooperating.
Displays of Noctilucent Clouds and Aurora during one night are rare.
Noctilucent Clouds, NLC’s for short, (aka Night Shining Clouds or Polar Mesospheric Clouds) are the world’s highest types of cloud forming on the edge of space at height of about 80 km (50 miles) which is also height where auroras occur. Unlike most of other clouds types, which are mostly made of water vapour, NLCs are comprised of extremely small ice crystals. They are normally too faint to be seen, and are visible only when illuminated by sunlight from below the horizon while the lower layers of the atmosphere are in the Earth’s shadow. They can be observed in the summer months at latitudes between 50° and 70° north and south of the equator.
Explanation: On September 6, a starry night and the Milky Way witnessed the launch of a Minotaur V rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. So did a large part of the eastern United States, as the spectacular night launch was easily visible even from light polluted urban areas. This 35 second exposure captures part of the rocket’s initial launch streak and 2nd stage ignition flare along with a fiery reflection in calm waters. The stunning view faces south and west from a vantage point overlooking Sinepuxent Bay in Maryland about 20 miles north of the launch pad. Heading east over the Atlantic, the multi-stage rocket placed LADEE, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, into a highly elliptical Earth orbit to begin its journey to the Moon.
This had me mesmerized for days. The CGI is terrible, but that’s not the point. It’s over 5,000 singers from 101 countries, put together into a “virtual choir” that is INCREDIBLE. It gives me goosebumps, and I’m not even listening to it right now! (And if you like this, check out “Virtual Choir 2.0: Sleep”)
There is a version on iTunes! It is not the same as the YouTube version, unfortunately, but it’s still musically thrilling. I listened to it like ten times the night I bought it.
Search for “Eric Whitacre Fly to Paradise”. (The rest of his works are awesome, too. I have the “Light & Gold” album, which I bought when our ladies’ choir was learning his Five Hebrew Love Songs.)
Explanation: What spooky planet is this? Planet Earth of course, on the dark and stormy night of September 12 at Hverir, a geothermally active area along the volcanic landscape in northeastern Iceland. Geomagnetic storms produced the auroral display in the starry night sky while ghostly towers of steam and gas venting from fumaroles danced against the eerie greenish light. Tonight, there is still a chance for geomagnetic storms triggered by recent solar activity, so high-latitude skygazers should beware. And ghostly shapes may dance in your neighborhood, too. Have a safe and Happy Halloween!
This is my new favourite site - one of my co-workers (and a clueful one at that!) told me about it. Currently listening to the Epic Film Scores playlist and loving it.