Winter Images

Following up on my new year’s resolution to include more photographs in the blog, here are some winter images. First, a Tom Whelan photo of frost crystals:

He says:

[Ice crystals] only form on cold nights, with temps from 5 to 12 degrees F. These were on a leaf in a shallow brook, just an inch or so deep. The black water was a welcome background. I think it looks like a butterfly!

This one, from Michael Leacher, is called “Winter Water”:

Last but least, here is one I call “Some big icicles I saw one time when I was out taking a walk”:

ice

Stay warm!

Star images

Slate has a piece by Phil Plait showing the best astronomy images of 2012.  The images are uniformly, unbelievably awe-inspiring and gorgeous.  I want to become an astrophotographer when I grow up.

Here is a Hubble photo of a star-forming factory, about 170,000 light years away from us.

Here’s a photo from NASA/Goddard showing an eruption on the sun:

And here is a NASA photo of the transit of Venus back in June:

Please go take a look at all of them.