I like space. I like girls. I like cool Shit.

Macro melt 🙏

What could be more picturesque than a rainbow? How about a Moonbow? Or more correctly; a lunar rainbow! As many of you will know, a rainbow forms as a result of the refraction of sunlight as it passes through water droplets in the sky. The refractive properties of the droplets cause sunlight to be split into a band of colours, more specifically the light spectrum.  For a Moonbow, the principles behind its formation are quite the same. The only exception is the light source is no longer the Sun, but the Moon. While most of us will have seen a rainbow at least once in our life time, a much fewer number will have had the pleasure to encounter the lunar equivalent. This is because, as the Moon is more variable than the sun, many conditions need to be just right. 1- Moonbows are best seen when the Moon is conspicuous in the sky, so the period around the full moon, and more particularly before and after the gibbous phase is particularly favourable. 2- Of course, the brightest Moon thinkable will not cause a moonbow on its own accord. Moisture in the air also a crucial component. The best nights to see a moonbow is when there is rain coupled with intermittent clear skies. 3- The last main consideration is the position of the Moon in the night sky. Acredited to the atmospheric optical parameters of water droplets; a low Moon altitude is desired. If the Moon is greater than 42 degrees above the horizon, no bow will form. These three things are the basic necessities for the formation of a lunar rainbow. While they may sound like reasonable considerations individually, it is quite a different situation when you need all three of these to work together at the same time. As a result, this phenomenon is really quite rare. The best places to witness this spectacle are said to be the Scottish Highlands and The Hawaiian Islands as well as Ireland and the United Kingdom. So, if you ever think it is a Goldilocks night, in which all the conditions are right- get outside and see if you can catch a glimpse of this amazing phenomenon.   -Jean  Photo courtesy of Rob Ratkowski of Hawaii. Photo link: http://all-that-is-interesting.com/post/8779470889/seven-bizarre-and-beautiful-natural-phenomena/2

Athanasius Kircher. Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae (The Great Art of Light and Shadow). 1646.

In the formation of hopper crystals, the outer edges of the crystal grows faster than the interior edge, leading to these angular crystals with a stepped structure. Gaps also form in the middle because the inner crystals grow slower and don’t have time to fill up that region, forming the ”hopper cart” shape. This characteristic is known to occur in a number of other minerals and elements such as calcite, halite, gold, and even in water (snowflakes). There are even instructions online on how to grow your own crystals.

untitled by Han Cheng Yeh on Flickr.

via reddit

Source: gosko (flickr)

Source: alloyjared

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because I think Dylan Thomas’ poem is perfect for Interstellar

This new image captured by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope shows a ring of starbirth circling the galaxy NGC 1291, which is about 12 billion years old. Older stars, seen mostly in the central region of the galaxy, are colored blue in the photo; younger, red stars make up the ring. The image was captured as part of a study on structural features in barred galaxies. They’re called so because they have a long central bar of stars within them. The Milky Way is an example of this type and the Spitzer survey aims to discover more about how they form and evolve, which could shed light on the conditions that created our galaxy (among many other things). Image copyright: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The ‘Mystic Mountain’ of the Carina Nebula

A Spectre in the Eastern Veil

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