The White Mountains in Fall

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." - Rachel Carson

A few pictures from recent adventures in the White Mountains. Specifically, two hikes:

1. North, Middle and South Carter
2. Mt. Whiteface and Passaconaway

South view from Middle Carter

Mt. Washington and the Presidentials from North Carter

South view from Mt. Whiteface

The Bowl Natural Research Area from Rollins Trail

Wonalancet Ridge from the Walden Trail

Snowflakes

Check out Alexey Kljatov's snowflake pictures. They remind me of mandalas.

The Majesty of Saturn

Gordan Ugarkovic recently created an absolutely stunning composite image of Saturn.

You'll really be doing yourself a disservice if you don't go here and check out the incredible new high-rez shot of Saturn where you can see all of the cool details. Bad Astronomy runs down some of them:

"Cassini was high above Saturn to the north, looking “down” on the ringed world when it took these images. You can see the bizarre hexagonal north polar vortex, the six-sided jet stream flowing around Saturn. The subtle but beautiful bands mark the cloud tops of Saturn’s atmosphere. Unless I'm mistaken, the thin white line you see wrapping around the planet at mid-latitude is the remnant of a vast storm so huge it completely dwarfed our own home world of Earth. And if you look carefully (you can measure it!) you can see that Saturn is highly flattened, its equatorial diameter wider than through the poles."

Click through for lots more. Incredible stuff.

It's, Like, Pictures? But of Space?

io9 has a great space porn collection up called "The Most Spectacular Astronomy Images of the Past Year." My favorite: "Green Energy" by Fredrik Broms.

The Transit of Venus - in Ultraviolet

Last year, I posted a picture of the 2012 Transit of Venus and mentioned that it was the most dynamic picture taken of the event. I was wrong.

You're looking at the sun, filtered for three types of ultraviolet light, with the black dot of Venus crossing it. Damn! Check out the NASA website for a larger picture and a description of how the image was created. 

Fractals in Nature

These pictures are awesome.

Russian Flight to Venus

This is cool: Don Mitchell's website that details the history behind and some crazy pictures from the Russian Venera landers, which landed on the planet in the 70s and 80s.

Pix to Distract You From Your Monday Morning

Two great space pictures to put things in perspective as you steel yourself for another long work week:

1. Star Trail photos from the ISS. Trippy stuff!
2. The shadow of Saturn's rings. Straight from Cassini.

Summer Began on Sunday

If you're at a carnival in 80 degree weather, it's summer time. I refuse to hear anything different. 

Wonder Why so Many People Feel Bad About Themselves?

Because print media uses Photoshop (in the past, airbrushes) to make people look more glamorous than they really are. Check out these before and after pictures. If you click the buttons quickly, you can see boobs grow, butts shrink, and facial lines disappear before your very eyes!

Personally, I think age lines and big butts are endearing signs of personality, but then i'm not trying to sell magazines either. What I find annoying is how many people spend incredible amounts of time, energy, and money trying to live up to impossible (because faked) ideals.

Six Months After

Incredible photos of northeast Japan during, 3 and 6 Months after the terrible earthquake and tsunami.

Pictures of Halloween Past

A wonderful collection of pictures from old Halloween nights. Beautiful in it's artlessness.

The Milky Way from 15,000 Feet

The Milky Way by  Anton Jankovoy c. Caters

An incredible picture of the Milky Way, taken by Ukranian photographer Anton Jankovoy in Nepal. More of his pictures here. So see the larger version - the picture here really doesn't do it justice.

Quote of the Day

Source: Gaping Void Gallery

How to Focus in the Age of Distraction

Source: Learning Fundamentals via The Big Picture

Picture of the Day

A shot of an asteroid hitting the earth's atmosphere from above.

The entire slideshow has amazing pictures, mainly taken from the International Space Station.

Picture of the Day

You have to check out this self-portrait of a crested black macaque.

Friday Night Trey Blogging

Love this Picture

If I Could Walk on Water

I'd like to imagine that it would be as incredible an experience as these pictures of Water Striders look. Be sure to scroll down to the Locomotion section, where you'll see "dipolar vortices generated in the wake of the adult water strider."