Galactic beacon by XLJ Photography

https://static.photocdn.pt/images/photos/111324/68812/a30a5859748080e3b2cee54f4e592736.webp

#milkyway #space #photography

Shrek the sheep.

Context: Discovered in a cave in Otago, New Zealand, the merino sheep had successfully evaded muster for six years. During this time the newly named Shrek had gown an amazing 27kg worth of fleece. Shrek quickly became an international celebrity, he was shorn on New Zealand Television, visited parliament to meet the Prime Minister and was later even shorn again on an iceberg. Shrek died a venerable 16 years old in 2011.

#history

Kyoto. By Robert Schrader

#japan #photography #kyoto

Horseshoe Bend with Rare Zodiacal Light by David Lane

What is the Zodiacal light? It is sunlight reflecting off dust grains that circle the sun in the inner solar system. These grains are thought to be left over from the process that created our Earth and the other planets of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago. These dust grains in space spread out from the sun in the same flat disc of space inhabited by Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and the other planets in our sun’s family. This flat space around the sun – the plane of our solar system – translates on our sky to a narrow pathway called the ecliptic. This is the same path traveled by the sun and the moon as they journey across our sky.

#photography #grandcanyon #space

Japan autumn colors by Robert Schrader

#photography #japan

Looking down into category 4 hurricane Florence

Credit: NASA

#space #hurricane

Last. By Siuloon

#photography

Double Rainbow by Brian Boudreau

#rainbow #photography

Paul Allen and Bill Gates were childhood friends from Seattle when they started Microsoft in 1975. Allen was working at Honeywell, Inc. and Gates was doing pre-law at Harvard University.

Their idea was to produce an interpreter for the microcomputer Altair 8800 using BASIC programming language. When Gates and Allen sold their interpreter to MITS who distributed it, Microsoft, then known as Micro-Soft, was born.

#microsoft #history

Dresden after the Allied firebombing campaign in 1945

Context: Few Allied actions during World War II are as controversial or as debated as the firebombing of Dresden, which began on February 13, 1945, lasting two more days. During that time more than 1,200 Allied aircraft dropped almost 4,000 tons of high explosive and incendiary devices on the German city, killing between 22,000 and 25,000 civilians and utterly destroying the city.

Allied planners justified the bombing by claiming Dresden was an important rail transport and communications hub for the German war effort, though not all of these sites were targeted for bombing. Others claim Dresden was a cultural center with no real military significance and the bombing campaign was unnecessary given the impending invasion of Germany by Allied forces (the war would end only a few months later.)

Winston Churchill was ultimately responsible for ordering the bombardment though he too attempted to distance himself from it later on. He referred to the campaign in Dresden as an "act of terror" which drew the ire of Arthur Harris, the man in charge of the RAF Bomber Command, and a proponent of area bombing.

Debate continues today over the military significance of Dresden and whether the act constituted a war crime.

#history #dresden #WWII

The Black Marble: Our Planet in Brilliant Darkness

This image is one of several global images of the Earth at night released in 2017.

Credit: NASA

#earth #nasa #space

Urban art by Jose Manuel Sainz de Baranda

#photography #urbanart

"inside the bubble"

By Jose Manuel Sainz de Baranda.

#photography #rain

A section of New Orleans, Louisiana is flooded after Hurricane Katrina in 2005

#hurricane #history #flood

Context: Perhaps the most infamous hurricane of all time, Katrina devastated large swathes of the US Gulf Coast, particularly Louisiana, where the 'Big Easy' New Orleans was inundated with floodwaters after the city's levees broke. More than 1,836 people died.

Exacerbating one of the worst natural disasters in American history was the much criticized government response, particularly by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In the Superdome in New Orleans, supplies were limited, leading to a rapid deterioration in conditions and an evacuation which took five days. Deaths from violence, reports of looting, thirst and starvation in Louisiana in the days after Katrina provoked harsh criticism of people like George W. Bush, mayor Ray Nagin, FEMA head Michael Brown (who resigned partway through the crisis) and others. Kanye West infamously said "George Bush doesn't care about black people" during a live broadcast for charity.

The breach of the levees caused catastrophic flooding in New Orleans - as much as 80% of it was flooded for weeks. The estimated cost of Katrina was $125 billion, tying it with Hurricane Harvey in 2017 as the costliest natural disaster in American history.

Crowds line the Champs Elysees to view the Free French forces of General Leclerc's 2nd Armored Division pass through the Arc de Triomphe. August 26, 1944.

Photography by Jack Downey, Library of Congress.

#onthisday #WWII #France

Pompon Dahlias.

Credit: Ray in Manila.

#photography #flowers

Water droplets on azalea stamens after a wet night.

Credit: frcrossnacreevy

#photography #nature #flowers

Dandelion. By Cyberlens 40D.

#photography #nature

Studlagil Canyon, Iceland. By Andrea Moscato.

#photography

A new image of SNR 0519-69.0 shows the debris of a star that exploded several hundred years ago in Earth’s timeframe.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/GSFC/B. J. Williams et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI

#nasa #space #supernova