A River in Egypt
A River in Egypt Almost the entire length of the Nile River, the longest on Earth, can be seen winding its way through this image. Image: NTs OMZ
View ArticleApr. 24, 2012
Ripples in Space Resembling a rippling pool illuminated by underwater lights, the Egg Nebula offers astronomers a special look at the normally invisible dust shells swaddling an aging star. These dust...
View ArticleApr. 23, 2012
Snowman Craters NASA’s Dawn spacecraft obtained this image with its framing camera on August 6, 2011. This image was taken through the camera’s clear filter. The camera has a resolution of about 260...
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Digital Thermometer
Ice Cold Creating snowflakes requires a rapid warm-to-freezing shift in temperature. A hot plate sits atop Gledhill's snowflake grower, while underneath the grower a cold plate -- made from a...
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High-Voltage Ice Crystal Growth
Amped-Up Snowmaker Water is a conductive medium, so adding electricity can radically change the formation of water's crystalline forms. Gledhill's solution: a $30 power supply intended for a cattle...
View ArticleIce Crystal Growth Time Lapse
Snowflakes are stunning examples of natural beauty and testaments to the exacting laws of physics. Thankfully, almost anyone can grow snowflakes with a soda bottle, some string, a block of dry ice and...
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Ice Crystal Branching
Electric Ice Crystals Armed with 2,000 volts, Gledhill improved his snowflake-maker further by tweaking its moisture supply with acetic acid and a warm water bubbler similar to equipment used in...
View ArticleSnowflake-Tipped Ice Crystal Spikes
Snowflakes at Last? After a few weeks of toying with temperature gradients, moisture levels, electricity and other aspects of his snowflake grower, Gledhill finally achieved snowflake-like growth at...
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Snowflake Growing Chamber
Do-It-Yourself Snowflake Lab Supported by cinder blocks, shielded by a tattered plastic tarp and surrounding a plexiglass-covered block of styrofoam (below), Gledhill's contraption doesn't look like...
View ArticleHollow Ice Crystal Growth
Tubular Growth When Gledhill left his snowflake grower on overnight, it formed many of these hollow ice cones and needles. "In biopharmaceuticals, it takes probably 10 years to develop and test a...
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Dendritic Ice Crystals
Beautiful Failures Gledhill initially started growing ice crystals on a damp cloth string and nylon fishing line. His chamber worked, but produced the wrong kinds of crystals. As he tweaked and...
View ArticleApr. 25, 2012
Double Sombrero The infrared vision of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed that the Sombrero galaxy -- named after its appearance in visible light to a wide-brimmed hat -- is in fact two...
View ArticleApr. 26, 2012
Tarantula Nebula This composite of 30 Doradus, aka the Tarantula Nebula, contains data from Chandra (blue), Hubble (green), and Spitzer (red). Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Tarantula...
View ArticleApr. 27, 2012
Popocatépetl Steaming Located about 70 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Mexico City, Popocatépetl (pronounced poh-poh-kah-TEH-peh-til) is one of Mexico’s most active volcanoes. The towering...
View ArticleDeep-sea crabs
This cluster of galatheid crabs was photographed crawling over the husks of dead tubeworms at a formerly active hydrothermal vent. These crabs are related to the famous “Yeti crab,” which was found in...
View ArticleBlack smoker chimney
Several photos stitched together show one of the largest hydrothermal vent chimneys that Clague’s team discovered. Chimneys like this one, which is over 20 meters tall, grow when minerals precipitate...
View ArticleRoboJelly
RoboJelly Engineers designed an underwater robot that looks and moves like a moon jellyfish. Unlike previous electrically powered jellyfish robots, this one uses heat energy to move, giving it a longer...
View ArticleBlack smoker chimney
This deep-sea hydrothermal vent was one of many recently discovered in the Gulf of California by a team of scientists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). The water from some of...
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