Category Archives: Nature

Blue Shadows

By Vladimir Brezina

Seasonally appropriate: sunny days after the big snowstorm in NYC’s Central Park—

The scene in NYC's Central Park
Blue shadows 1
Blue shadows 2
Blue shadows 3
Blue shadows 4
Blue shadows 5
(More photos are here, here, and here)

A contribution to this week’s Photo Challenge, Shadowed. A second contribution is here.

The Sunspot Story

By Johna Till Johnson

Suspended lion face
Spilling at the centre
Of an unfurnished sky
How still you stand,
And how unaided
Single stalkless flower
You pour unrecompensed.

The eye sees you
Simplified by distance
Into an origin,
Your petalled head of flames
Continuously exploding. …

—Philip Larkin, Solar

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What’s the longest-running scientific experiment in history?

I bet you didn’t think of monitoring sunspots.

Sunspots

Sunspots (photo by NASA)

And I can’t definitively say it’s the longest-running experiment —there may be others I haven’t heard of yet. But the first recorded systematic observation of sunspots in the West was by astronomers Thomas Harriot, Johannes and David Fabricius  in 1610 (Chinese astronomers observed them as far back as 300 BC). Scientists have been monitoring sunspots ever since—which means that sunspots have been monitored for the past 405 years!

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Clean-up Crew

By Vladimir Brezina

Do not watch if you are prone to nightmares involving swarming insects! (However, more than 8 million people have not been able to resist watching this classic YouTube video…)

I particularly like the way they carry off the skull in the end… :-)

Some background and explanation is here.

New

By Vladimir Brezina

Each morning is a new morning—

 (click on any photo to start slideshow)

A contribution to this week’s Photo Challenge, New.

Last Days of the Year

By Vladimir Brezina

Last red leaf
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The one red leaf, the last of its clan,
That dances as often as dance it can,
Hanging so light, and hanging so high,
On the topmost twig that looks up at the sky.
— Coleridge, Christabel
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Sunset at the end of December 2014 in NYC’s Central Park—
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Winter sunset
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(Click on any photo to start slideshow)
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Last light over the Central Park Reservoir—

Last light

Warmth

By Vladimir Brezina

The sun rises above the horizon, and immediately its warming rays disperse the morning chill. It’s going to be another hot one!

Warmth

A response to this week’s Photo Challenge, Warmth.

The Turn of the Year

By Vladimir Brezina

I mean, of course, the ancient turn of the year, the Winter Solstice—not that newfangled, artificial New Year on January 1st.

The Winter Solstice occurs today, December 21st, at 6:03 PM EST (New York time).  This year, especially, we look forward to the days finally getting longer…

Winter sunset at the Central Park Reseervoir

… and we are still waiting for our first real snowstorm, which at least for a day or two makes everything brighter :-)

Happy Winter Solstice from us in NYC!

Travel Theme: Belonging

By Vladimir Brezina

Belonging

A contribution to Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge, Belonging.

Minimal Autumn

By Vladimir Brezina

Minimal Autumn

A contribution to this week’s Photo Challenge, Minimalist, and Ailsa’s recent travel-themed photo challenge, Autumn.

Travel Theme: Broken

By Vladimir Brezina

Nature Morte…

Broken shell 1
Broken shell 2
Broken shell 3
Broken shell 4

A contribution to Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge, Broken.