
In Namibia, Africa, not too far from the port city of Lüderitz, the ghost town Kolmanskop is slowly sinking, being buried by sand to be trapped in time. Photo #1 by Michiel Van Balen
In Namibia, Africa, not too far from the port city of Lüderitz, the ghost town Kolmanskop is slowly sinking, being buried by sand to be trapped in time. Photo #1 by Michiel Van Balen
Mother Nature didn’t create this geothermal wonder, but neither did aliens. In 1916, a rancher drilled a well in hopes of turning the desert into a fertile wetland, but accidentally hit a geothermal pocket of water. It wasn’t until 1964 that boiling water started to escape to the surface and that is how this geothermal wonder came to be. It’s located on private property, the Fly Ranch. This phenomena has been named Fly Geyser in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, located about 20 miles north of Gerlach. Photo #1 by wallpaperpimper
This is baby Knut, the polar bear that was rejected by its mother Tosca after Knut was born on December 5, 2006. He weighed only 19 pounds (9 kilograms). Berlin zoo employee Thomas Doerflein plays with polar bear cub Knut in this picture. Knut had to be reared by hand and bottle-fed by Doerflein at the Berlin Zoo in Germany. They had a very special bond that is almost never seen between human and polar bear. Photo #1 by Jeremy C. Munns
4 U.S. Air Force Northrop F-5E Tiger II fighters from the 58th Tactical Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona (USA), flying in an echelon left formation over the Grand Canyon. Photo #1 by Camera Operator: TSgt Bob Simons, USAF
Lightning – Living Dangerously. Photo #1 by TED
Bled Lake and Assumption of Mary Pilgrimage Church. You can see the fantastic snow-covered Julian Alps behind Bled Island’s church. Photo #1 by Mirci
Many people have seen photos of the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge in Ireland, but the Library of Congress took an interesting approach. Before St. Patrick’s Day last year, it asked for and posted more than 100 photochroms of Ireland taken between 1890 – 1900. Here’s a look at some of those same spots over a hundred years ago, then again today. ~ As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction. Photo #1 by Shiraz Chakera
ESO: Pointing the Laser towards the Milky Way’s Center is helping researchers better monitor the galactic core, where a central supermassive black hole, surrounded by closely orbiting stars, is swallowing gas and dust. In mid-August 2010 ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky snapped this amazing photo at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. Photo #1 by ESO/Y. Beletsky
In Chile, the Polynesian name for this island is Rapa Nui, but many people call it Easter Island since a Dutch explorer found it on Easter Sunday. Here the horses are nibbling away apparently unimpressed by moai archaeological treasures at the Rano Raraku quarry. Photo #1 by Lieutenant Elizabeth Crapo, NOAA Corps & NOAA
“Dreaming of the Tiger” – Hupao Spring in Hangzhou, China. Chinese gardens are built not planted to be a solitary place or to be a place for “social contemplation of nature.” Chinese gardens are culturally important, serving as a semi-public extension of the house, meant for retreat, for festivity, for study of poetry, or even for romance. Photo #1 by Sh1019
Petra, Jordan, by Candlelight. If the gorgeous rock colors are dazzling during the day, imagine more than 1,500 candles flickering in the ancient city, through the Siq to the Treasury where Bedouin music is playing. Photo #1 by Paul Stocker