EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Fireflies and Star Trails in Italy

August 05, 2021

StarStaX_IMG_6412-IMG_6613_lighten(2)

Photographer: Elena Paschetto

Summary Author: Elena Paschetto; Cadan Cummings

This composite image consisting of 197 long-exposure photos features
star trails and fireflies taken on a summer night in
Sanfront, Italy. Fireflies emit light in the 510-610 nm portion of
the visible spectrum. This bioluminescent light is used by
fireflies, or lightning bugs, to attract mates. Bioluminescence is
produced when calcium, oxygen, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and a
chemical luciferin combine in the presence of the enzyme
luciferase. The resulting chemical reaction creates an excited energy
state that emits light and slowly dims as the reaction uses up its
available ATP and oxygen. There are approximately 2,000 firefly species
in the family Lampyridae worldwide. Some types of fireflies are
crepuscular and prefer to only come out at dusk / dawn to limit the
chance of being eaten by nocturnal predators, while others choose to
fly around later at night in complete darkness. As a result, fireflies
pair well with night sky viewing since you can watch in wonderment the
blinking light of the fireflies and the counterclockwise motion of the
stars across the sky. Photos taken on June 12, 2021.

Photo data: Canon EOS 80D; Wide-angle Lens, 14mm, ISO 800, f/3.5, 10
second exposure, 197 photos processed using StarStaX
* Sanfront, Italy Coordinates: 44.647, 7.320

Related EPODs

Fireflies and Star Trails in Italy Grebes Courtship Display
Archive - Web Iridescence Dew Drops on Spider Web 17-Year
Cicadas in 2021 Fireflies in Nuevo León, México
More...

Animal Links

* Animal Diversity Web
* ARKive
* BirdLife International
* Bug Guide
* Discover Life
* Integrated Taxonomic Information System
* Microbial Life Resources
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the
-
Universities Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 12 weeks, 6 days, 12 hours, 15 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Alluring Views of Saturn Nearing Time of Opposition

October 05, 2021

6a0105371bb32c970b0282e1184c2d200b

Photographer: Marek Stromayer

Summary Author: Marek Stromayer; Cadan Cummings

The picture above of Saturn was captured on July 18, 2021 in St.
Petersburg, Florida using a ZWO ASI224MC camera mounted to a Celestron
130 SLT telescope and a EQ6-R Pro computerized mount. The timing of the
photo above coincided with Saturn nearing its date of opposition,
which occurred exactly two weeks later on August 1-2, 2021. The next
opposition for Saturn will occur on August 14, 2022. Saturn has been a
favorite night sky sight for astronomers for centuries. Known as one of
the five “ wandering stars” (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn)
to ancient civilizations, Saturn was first observed through a telescope
in 1610 by Galileo Galilei. Although Galileo was the first to see
the planet’s disk, it took a further 50 years for astronomer
Christiaan Huygens to discover the planet possessed its iconic
rings. In more recent years, astronomers have focused on studying the
many Moons of Saturn. As recent as 2019, a group of 20 new objects were
discovered, bringing the official number to 82 confirmed Moons.
However, only around 13 of these Moons have diameters larger than 31
miles (50 kilometers). Look for Saturn currently in the constellation
Capricornus.

Photo details: Celestron 130 SLT telescope, EQ6-R Pro computerized
mount, ZWO ASI224MC camera, ZWO ADC dispersion corrector, processed
using Autostakkert and Registax
* St. Petersburg, Florida Coordinates: 27.7676, -82.640

Related EPODs

Alluring Views of Saturn Nearing Time of Opposition The Moon’s
Journey - Apogee to Perigee Flower Supermoon Over Rome Lost
Meteors Due to Light Pollution Comet NEOWISE Seen from Quebec City
Atacama Desert Nightscape
More...

Night Sky Links

* Space Weather Live
* Space Weather Live Forum
* About the Moon
* American Meteor Society
* Arbeitskreises Meteore e.V.
* Global City Lights
* Heavens Above Home Page
* The International Meteor Organization
* Lunar and Planetary Institute
* MoonConnection
* NASA Eclipse Web Page
* Understanding The Moon Phases

-
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 4 weeks, 4 days, 21 hours, 55 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


A Bison at Home on Yellowstone’s Range

November 05, 2021

20210904_104427

Photographer: Angela Harris

Summary Author: Angela Harris & Ray Boren

A living symbol and icon of Yellowstone National Park, a solo
American bison bull ( Bison bison) also popularly known as a
buffalo, strolls a grassy stretch along the beautiful and serene
Madison River, in a photograph taken on Sept. 4, 2021.

Bison — the largest wild mammal in North America — have roamed the
Yellowstone region in northwestern Wyoming and sections of Montana
and Idaho, in an unbroken stretch for thousands of years. The
National Park Service counted 4,680 individuals in the summer of
2020, in two primary herds. Feeding primarily on grasses and
sedges, the males of the species (bulls) weigh up to 2,000 pounds (900
kg), while females (cows) weigh about 1,000 pounds (450 kg). Generally
social animals, they congregate during the breeding season to attract
mates, but mature males separate from the herds following courtship and
tend to spend autumn and winter alone or in smaller groups.

The Madison River, along which this bison is grazing, flows
westward here, but its waters will ultimately end up south in the Gulf
of Mexico. The Continental Divide is complicated in Yellowstone,
with some of its waters heading toward the Pacific Ocean via the Snake
and Columbia river systems, and others rivers flow toward the Atlantic
Ocean and related basins. The Madison, 183 miles (295 km) long, joins
to the north with the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers at Three Forks,
Montana, to form the Missouri River, which eventually merges with the
Mississippi River.
* Yellowstone National Park, Coordinates: 44.6527, -111.0179

Related EPODs

A Bison at Home on Yellowstone’s Range Sphinx Moth Feeding on a
Lilac Bush Sea Lung Jellyfish Fireflies and Star Trails in
Italy Grebes Courtship Display Archive - Web Iridescence
More...

Animal Links

* Animal Diversity Web
* ARKive
* BirdLife International
* Bug Guide
* Discover Life
* Integrated Taxonomic Information System
* Microbial Life Resources
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the
-
Universities Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 9 weeks, 21 hours, 55 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Archive - Amboseli National Park, Kenya

December 04, 2021

6a0105371bb32c970b017d42e93ca3970c

Every weekend we present a notable item from our archives.

This EPOD was originally published May 13, 2013.

Photographer: Sheyenne Scriven
Summary Author: Sheyenne Scriven; Jim Foster

The photo above showing a small herd of elephants in Amboseli
National Park, Kenya, was taken in late December 2010. Snowcapped
Mount Kilimanjaro (located across the border of Kenya in Tanzania)
looms in the background. Kilimanjaro, a dormant stratovolcano
topping 19,039 ft (5,803 m), is the highest mountain on the African
continent. Despite the arid conditions pictured above, December is
usually a rather rainy month in east Africa. However, the long
rainy season on Kilimanjaro begins in March and lasts early June --
this is when most of the snowfall is observed.
African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth. The
biggest tuskers may stand 13 ft (4 m) tall, weigh as much as 14,000 lbs
(6,350 kg) and require 300 lbs (136 kg) of food such as bark,
leaves, fruit and roots each day to sustain them.

Photo details: Camera Maker: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.; Camera Model:
u7000,S7000; Focal Length: 9.1mm (35mm equivalent: 52mm); Aperture:
f/4.3; Exposure Time: 0.0020 s (1/500); ISO equiv: 64.
* Amboseli National Park, Kenya Coordinates: -2.641389, 37.248056

Related EPODs

Archive - Amboseli National Park, Kenya Quebrada de las Conchas
Nature Reserve Geology of Badlands National Park Vortex Clouds
Around Mount Etna Rock Glacier in Colorado Rockies Archive -
The Great Smoky Thrust Fault at White Oak Sink
More...

Geology Links

* Earthquakes
* Geologic Time
* Geomagnetism
* General Dictionary of Geology
* Mineral and Locality Database
* Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness
* This Dynamic Earth
* USGS
* USGS Ask a Geologist
* USGS/NPS Geologic Glossary
* USGS Volcano Hazards Program

-
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 20 hours, 43 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)