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Ring of fire
Ring of fire
No, this isn"t some kind of early promo for "Halo Infinite." Today"s homepage image shows an annular solar eclipse captured in New Mexico in 2012. ("Annular" is just a fancy word for doughnut-shaped.) It"s not unlike the eclipse some northerly parts of the world will enjoy tomorrow.Desktop Version
A throng of ice and spires
A throng of ice and spires
If these frozen formations were named by more literal minds, we might know them as simply "reverse icicles." But the Andes, including this mountain pass rising above Chile"s Atacama Desert, were mapped by poetically inclined Spanish explorers. They likened formations like these to a congregation of penitent parishioners kneeling at mass: hence the common name "penitentes" for such packed-snow pinnacles.Desktop Version
We re gonna need a bigger birdhouse
We re gonna need a bigger birdhouse
You"re more likely to see jabiru storks down on the shores of ponds or on riverbanks, where they hunt for small fish, amphibians, and lizards. They"re the tallest flying bird in South and Central America, with the largest males standing 5 feet. Despite their size, jabiru storks are graceful fliers. Here in the Pantanal, a sprawling tropical wetland in western Brazil, jabiru storks will build a massive nest in late August or September—just as spring is beginning in the Southern Hemisphere. The stork mates in this image may be scouting out a good place for their nest. And once it"s built, the pair will raise anywhere from two to five jabiru stork chicks.Desktop Version
Ruins of a royal temple
Ruins of a royal temple
In present-day Thailand sit the ruins of the ancient kingdom that preceded it, Ayutthaya. Wat Phra Si Sanphet, shown here, was the holiest shrine in the capital of that kingdom, a royal temple containing a 52-foot-tall golden statue of the Buddha, among other treasures. The first king of Ayutthaya, Ramathibodi I, ordered construction of a royal palace here in 1350. Nearly a century later, the palace was moved to a different location in the city and the former palace grounds were converted to a holy site.Desktop Version
It s Bermuda s big day
It s Bermuda s big day
We"re gazing down at Marley Beach on the southwest coast of Bermuda in honor of Bermuda Day, a public holiday celebrated near the end of May. The event was first established on this British island territory in 1902, to honor Queen Victoria"s birthday the year after her death, but it has evolved into a celebration of the culture. Since 2018, it"s been observed on the last Friday of May. Locals celebrate the end of winter on this day with a swim or boat ride. Today"s holiday also marks the date when islanders transition to a summer wardrobe at work. For the next several months, Bermuda shorts, which hit just above the knee, will be considered appropriate business attire for the island"s most dapper gentlemen.Desktop Version
Mountains fit for a queen
Mountains fit for a queen
Like sentinels standing guard, these towering stalks are flowers of the queen of the Andes, the world"s largest bromeliad—some specimens can grow up to 50 feet tall. This extraordinary plant has adapted to grow only in the adverse conditions found on the high slopes of the Bolivian and Peruvian Andes. To see several of them in bloom at once is truly special, for the queen of the Andes sends up her flowering stalk just once, after a century or so of painstaking growth. A single plant will bloom for about three months, producing anywhere from 8,000 to 20,000 flowers, then die.Desktop Version
A monster view in Scotland
A monster view in Scotland
People love a good mystery. Maybe that"s why we"ve been fascinated by mythical creatures like the Loch Ness monster for nearly 1,500 years. We"re looking at Urquhart Castle, a ruin founded in the 13th century, with Loch Ness behind it. As the legend goes, on August 22, 565, an Irish priest named Columba confronted "Nessie" and commanded the "water beast" away. Since then, several other people have claimed to spot, or even photograph, the Loch Ness monster. And then there are the alleged sightings of Bigfoot, the chupacabra, the yeti, and other creatures around the world. These are all examples of a subculture engaged in cryptozoology—the study of hidden animals. Are any of these beasts real? Probably not, but why spoil the fun?Desktop Version
The Sky Over Nine Columns in Venice, Italy
The Sky Over Nine Columns in Venice, Italy
Here in the canal city of Venice, sun and water reflect off artist Heinz Mack’s sculpture called The Sky Over Nine Columns. The piece was on display here in on the island of San Giorgio Magiorre in 2014, during the Venice Architecture Biennale, and later traveled to Istanbul and Valencia. Visitors are encouraged to wander through the pillars as if wandering through a temple connecting the Earth to the sky. A closer look reveals the massive pillars are covered in 850,000 mosaic tiles coated in 24-carat gold leaf.Desktop Version
‘Ciao’ from Varenna
‘Ciao’ from Varenna
Scenic Lake Como in Italy’s Lombardy region is where the rich and famous come to play. The lavish historic villas are home to an increasingly well-heeled cosmopolitan set, including celebrities like George Clooney, who owns a summer house in the lakeside village of Laglio. As it happens, most tourists visit Lake Como in the summer, but we think winter looks magical as well, particularly here on the Riva Grande, the shoreline promenade of Varenna. Como’s picturesque landscape has served as a filming location for many popular movies over the years, including ‘Ocean"s Twelve,’ which Clooney starred in, as well as ‘Casino Royale’ and ‘Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.’ Even Jedi knights aren’t immune to the region’s charms. In ‘Star Wars: Episode II,’ Lake Como was the site where Anakin Skywalker falls in love with Padmé Amidala.Desktop Version
Pups of the prairie
Pups of the prairie
These swift fox pups make their home in Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan, Canada. Historically, the range of this cat-sized fox stretched across the short grass prairies of Canada down through the central US to the Texas Panhandle. But as agriculture and settlements overtook open grasslands, swift fox numbers declined precipitously. By the 1930s, they had completely disappeared from the wild in Canada.Desktop Version
The most Instagrammable bird?
The most Instagrammable bird?
Why did German researchers set out to determine the world"s most Instagrammable bird? We"re not quite sure, but once they did, we had to know what it was. And once we saw this cute, fuzzy, kind of angry-looking creature that reminds us of an owl, we had to feature it here. So, who is this we"re looking at? It"s a tawny frogmouth, a nocturnal bird found throughout Australia, including Tasmania. Tawny frogmouths are carnivores, eating nocturnal insects, worms, slugs, and snails, as well as small mammals, reptiles, frogs, and birds. Sometimes confused with owls, they"re more closely related to nightjars.Desktop Version
Humpbacks return to the Inside Passage
Humpbacks return to the Inside Passage
Humpback whales are found in virtually all the world’s oceans, though they don’t swim in the extra-cold waters of the Arctic. This pod is breaching the surface of Lynn Canal in the Alaska portion of the Inside Passage, where the whales return in summer for the feeding season after sensibly wintering in warmer tropical waters.Desktop Version
Happy birthday to Crater Lake National Park
Happy birthday to Crater Lake National Park
Roughly 7,700 years ago, give or take 150 years, Mount Mazama erupted and collapsed, creating a massive crater that would become Crater Lake. Fast-forward to this day in 1902, and Crater Lake National Park was established. With a maximum depth of 1,943 feet, equivalent to 3.5 Washington Monuments, Crater Lake is also the deepest lake in the US.Desktop Version
In celebration of cats
In celebration of cats
Not that anyone needs an excuse to feature a cat on the internet–but today is both World Cat Day and Scottish Wildcat Day, and that calls for a picture of this rare breed. The Scottish wildcat may resemble an ordinary tabby, but it’s twice the size and said to be virtually untamable. Unfortunately, that means we probably can’t snuggle with one anytime soon. But you can still get your feline fix by browsing cat videos on the web. In fact, we’ll be right back…Desktop Version
One giant leap for penguins
One giant leap for penguins
These Adélie penguins are jumping for joy because it"s World Penguin Day. Or maybe they"re just looking for a snack as they dive off this iceberg. Native to the land and surrounding waters of Antarctica, Adélie penguins migrate to their coastal breeding grounds in late October or November. They can dive as deep as 575 feet, and swim as far as 185 miles round trip to find krill, fish, and squid.Desktop Version
Springtime in the Mediterranean
Springtime in the Mediterranean
European bee-eaters really do eat bees, and other insects as well. They catch bugs midair and if the bugs have poisonous stingers, they’ll carry them to a perch and pound them to rub out the venom, making them safe to eat. You can find these jewel-toned birds throughout Europe, especially in nature reserves and parks. These two are enjoying the abundant sunshine in the Extremadura region of Spain, one of the best areas for birdwatching on the continent.Desktop Version
Eurasian scops owl
Eurasian scops owl
In the owl world, you"re either a member of the Strigidae or Tytonidae. That might sound like two warring houses from "Game of Thrones," but these are the two families of classification that make up the 200+ species of owls around the world. The Tytonidae family includes barn owls, which have distinct heart-shaped facial disks, while the larger Strigidae family consists of true (or typical) owls, most of which have round faces.Desktop Version
A treaty for science
A treaty for science
Twelve nations signed the Antarctic Treaty System on December 1, 1959, establishing the ice-covered continent as a place for scientific study open to all nations and banning any military activity there. Since then, additional countries joined in the treaty—now 53 nations participate in activities at the various research stations there. Our photo shows the northernmost part of Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula, south of Chile and Argentina.Desktop Version
Celebrating Helsinki’s birthday at the Kiasma Museum
Celebrating Helsinki’s birthday at the Kiasma Museum
Greetings from Helsinki, the capital of the world’s happiest country. Edgy-looking sites like the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art—shown here—sure make the city look young for its 468 years. This year Helsinki has twice the reason to celebrate, as Finland received a #1 ranking in the 2018 World Happiness Report, a UN publication that ranks countries based on characteristics like income, health, freedom, and social support.Desktop Version
Sunburst at Angkor
Sunburst at Angkor
The spring equinox finds us at Angkor Wat, the most famous Buddhist temple in Angkor Archaeological Park. The park is essentially a 154-square-mile collection of historic temples and related holy sites just outside the city of Siem Reap, Cambodia. On the equinox, when the sun rises it aligns with the top of the main tower at Angkor Wat before climbing farther into the sky to usher in longer days and shorter nights. Of course, if this photo is any indication, every sunrise at Angkor Wat is spectacular.Desktop Version
Let s run em up!
Let s run em up!
Since most large social gatherings have been postponed or canceled, we"re bringing the Armed Forces Day air show to you, courtesy of the US Air Force"s demonstration squadron, the Thunderbirds. In recent weeks, the Thunderbirds have joined with the Navy"s Blue Angels air squadron to conduct formation flights over several American cities as a salute to essential workers and health care personnel on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The two services are flying over some cities together and others separately. In a press release, Air Force Lt. Col. John Caldwell, the Thunderbird commander and lead pilot, said, "We are honored to fly over these cities in a display of national unity and support for the men and women keeping our communities safe."Desktop Version
Computer science on the page
Computer science on the page
Computer Science Education Week begins today, and because the field can seem daunting to the uninitiated, we’re showing a very relatable document that humanizes the work behind computer science. The notebook in this photo contains equations and ideas crafted by Alan Turing, the British mathematician and early computer scientist who helped the Allies win World War II when he cracked the code of Nazi Germany’s Enigma machine. In 2015, Turing’s notebook, written while he was working on the Enigma code, was sold at auction for more than $1 million.Desktop Version
Perfect timing
Perfect timing
If the first day of daylight saving time doesn"t have you springing for joy, this towering timekeeper might be more your speed. The astronomical clock at Lyon Cathedral in France was built in 1660, centuries before daylight saving time was widely adopted in the 20th century. The clock"s intersecting hands and dials don"t just tell time, they form a flattened model of our planet that tracks the positions of the sun and moon relative to Earth. The zodiac dial, offset to account for the planet"s rotational tilt, shows the star sign currently in season.Desktop Version
A bison preserve
A bison preserve
Once 60 million strong, bison were nearly wiped out from the North American plains in the 1800s. Then, in 1893, the owner of Antelope Island in Utah’s Great Salt Lake reintroduced 12 bison to the island as the foundation herd for a hunting operation. But the project failed, and without wolves on the island, the bison had no natural predators, so they thrived. (Incidentally, antelope brought to the island did not survive a similar effort.) Today, a herd of 550 to 700 bison roams here, protected as one of the attractions at Antelope Island State Park. Happy Bison Day!Desktop Version
The puffin-rabbit connection
The puffin-rabbit connection
Atlantic puffins spend most of their lives at sea—either flying over the surf as they migrate and search for fishing spots, or diving into the water to gobble up fish. But in spring and summer they come ashore to nest, meet up with their mates, and with any luck, raise a chick or two. Puffins can dig their own burrows, as they prefer to build nests underground atop seaside cliffs. But if there are rabbit warrens around, the puffins have no problem moving into empty burrows. They’re not even above kicking a rabbit out to take over.Desktop Version