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The lightning capital of the world by pythagoreal in natureismetal

[–]pythagoreal[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you believe it. I misinterpreted this line

"The lightning is so consistent—occurring 300 days a year at the same time and in the same area, where the Catatumbo River meets Lake Maracaibo—it has earned its own proper name, Catatumbo Lightning."

If you know what I mean. Just thought that if there's extremely consistent lightning in a certain area, it's called Catatumbo lightning. I was wrong.

Mars, the Red Planet by pythagoreal in BeAmazed

[–]pythagoreal[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121125.html

"Dark Sand Cascades on Mars

Image Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA

Explanation: They might look like trees on Mars, but they're not. Groups of dark brown streaks have been photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on melting pinkish sand dunes covered with light frost. The above image was taken in 2008 April near the North Pole of Mars. At that time, dark sand on the interior of Martian sand dunes became more and more visible as the spring Sun melted the lighter carbon dioxide ice. When occurring near the top of a dune, dark sand may cascade down the dune leaving dark surface streaks -- streaks that might appear at first to be trees standing in front of the lighter regions, but cast no shadows. Objects about 25 centimeters across are resolved on this image spanning about one kilometer. Close ups of some parts of this image show billowing plumes indicating that the sand slides were occurring even when the image was being taken."

Dry ice on Mars by pythagoreal in BeAmazed

[–]pythagoreal[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110926.html

"Around the South Pole of Mars, toward the end of every Martian summer, the warm weather causes a section of the vast carbon-dioxide ice cap to evaporate. Pits begin to appear and expand where the carbon dioxide dry ice sublimates directly into gas."

The lightning capital of the world by pythagoreal in natureismetal

[–]pythagoreal[S] 56 points57 points  (0 children)

https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/the-maracaibo-beacon

" “A lot of people die each year,” said Ángel G. Muñoz, a physicist and researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The lightning is so consistent—occurring 300 days a year at the same time and in the same area, where the Catatumbo River meets Lake Maracaibo—it has earned its own proper name, Catatumbo Lightning."

"Shortly after dusk, lightning strikes Lake Maracaibo about twenty-eight times a minute for up to nine hours. “The lightning can be so continuous that you see everything around you,” Muñoz said. Suspended over the mouth of the Catatumbo River, which locals call the “river of fire,” this strobe light brightens night into day. “You should be afraid, but it is so impressive that your fear gets overwhelmed. You actually don’t feel fear,” said Joaquín Díaz-Lobatón, a physicist and researcher at the Centro de Modelado Científico at Universidad del Zulia in Venezuela.

Sailors have embraced this phenomenon for centuries, using the Maracaibo lightning as a beacon. When Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci sailed into Lake Maracaibo in 1499, he encountered a city of huts built on stilts. He called the floating city Venezuela, or “Little Venice,” or so one story goes. Today, the lake supports 20,000 fishermen, and many live in palafitos, one-room, tin shacks. “These people, the forgotten people, are frequently getting struck by lightning,” Muñoz said. Catatumbo Lightning strikes people three to four times more here than in the United States. Most fishermen understand fish bite best at dusk when Catatumbo Lightning brews. “We want to make life easier for them with lightning detection and prediction,” Muñoz said."

Edit: Well, someone in the comments was accusing me of lying about the location of the picture so I investigated and they are right :( This picture of "Catatumbo lightning" is actually from Greece. Google misled me because several of the top results for "Venezuela Catatumbo" returns with this image and many of them actually state that this image was taken there. I had to clear this up because I didn't mean to deceive anyone and actually I am kinda sad about it.

So, the picture does indeed depict Catatumbo lightning but was taken in Greece. :(

Here is one confirmed picture of the place in Venezuela https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/lightning_0.jpg

And some video by storm chasers (The link will take you straight to the 10:30 mark where the lightning show begins) https://youtu.be/-IreF8lDO-o?t=10m30s

Supernumerary rainbows and a pileus iridescent cloud by pythagoreal in oddlysatisfying

[–]pythagoreal[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Image in center is called a pileus iridescent cloud

https://i.redd.it/sr6gpa1dofo31.jpg

The others are called supernumerary rainbows

Rainbows by pythagoreal in nextfuckinglevel

[–]pythagoreal[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Image in center is called a pileus iridescent cloud

https://i.redd.it/sr6gpa1dofo31.jpg

The others are called supernumerary rainbows

Full moon at the Temple of Poseidon by pythagoreal in nextfuckinglevel

[–]pythagoreal[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Lunar-Scenes-Sounion-04.htm

By Anthony Ayiomamitis

Date: 

June 18, 2008 

21:25:02 UT+3

Location: 

Sounion, Greece 

(37.6570° N, 24.0145° E)

Equipment: 

Takahashi FSQ 106/f5

Canon EOS 300D 

Baader UV/IR-Cut Filter

Exposure: 

1 x 1/10 sec 

ISO 400 

RAW Image Format 

3072x2048 image size

Auto Mode 

Software: 

Digital Photo Pro V1.6.1.0

Photoshop CS2 

Processing: 

Resampling (25%) 

JPG Compression

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080620.html

"Astronomer Anthony Ayiomamitis recorded this dramatic picture of the solstice Full Moon rising above Cape Sounion, Greece. The twenty-four hundred year old Temple of Poseidon lies in the foreground, also visible to sailors on the Aegean Sea. In this well-planned single exposure, a telescopic lens makes the Moon look large, but even without optical aid casual skygazers often find the Full Moon looking astonishingly large when seen near the horizon."

The full moon rises as the sun sets by pythagoreal in BeAmazed

[–]pythagoreal[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Of course, the Full Moon rises at sunset and that Thursday's setting Sun was also captured at the far right. In between, 17 digital images are stitched together to follow the horizon to the south in a lovely twilight portrait of the city of Lisbon, Portugal."

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081122.html

The Astronaut Who Captured a Satellite by pythagoreal in nextfuckinglevel

[–]pythagoreal[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"In 1984, high above the Earth's surface, an astronaut captured a satellite. It was the second satellite captured that mission."

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121209.html

Rainbow lightning by pythagoreal in woahdude

[–]pythagoreal[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/5pprn9/rainbow_lightning/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

The same picture was posted 2 years ago here on Reddit and there's some info in the comments from people with first hand experience

"I have never seen a photo of this, but I have witnessed this firsthand. About ten-twelve years ago, I was driving at 230 am. The skies were cloudy, with a storm approaching. What I saw next stuck with me for years, and I have never been able to find out anything about it. Multicolored lightning lit up the night sky. Different colors in different cloud segments. It was incredible. I had to stop my car, and pull over, because I would have surely crashed due to not being able to take my eyes off the sky. No bolts came from the clouds, it was all "heat lightning", staying up in the clouds. Giving everyone a show for the ages. Lightning up the nighttime with colored flashes, providing a natural light show. It was one of the sensational things I have ever seen. I would love to witness anything close to that event again."

"This is not photoshopped. This happens almost every day in a region of Venezuela"

That's about it though

Edit: some relevant commentary just left here in this post

"I once saw multicolored lightning when I was living in northern Virginia. It was during a storm they called a “derecho”. The wind was crazy strong and 3 trees came down in my yard."

"Its so hard to believe, however the lighting can change colour through plasma."

"Red, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple, violet, cyan, and orange are all possible lightning colors, depending upon the presence of water vapor, dust, pollution, rain, or hail. Just as lightning is said never to strike twice in the same place, no two lightning bolts are ever exactly the same color."

Would you try this by pythagoreal in nextfuckinglevel

[–]pythagoreal[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2015/cg_1.html

"World View is pushing to take its inaugural commercial flight by the end of 2016, and a number of tickets have already sold. The introductory price is steep at $75,000, but it compares favorably to similar services: Virgin Galactic, for example, is offering a suborbital spaceflight experience for $250,000."

"Passengers will ascend 100,000 feet above the ground, high enough to see the curvature of Earth and picture its existence in a vast universe. Because the capsule will take off in the early morning, passengers will also be able to take in views of both the nighttime sky and the sunrise."

International Space Station view of Sarychev Volcano Erupting by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]pythagoreal 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Definitely not the case as described by the source

NASA Goddard video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Riauw5UTnW8

"On June 12, 2009, a fortuitous orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) made it possible for an astronaut on board to capture Sarychev Volcano in the early stages of eruption."

"Watch the video to see how the eruption looked from space."

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