An extraterrestrial spacecraft lurking in a satellite’s orbit nearby Earth would be able to see city lights and pollution in our atmosphere. But what if it searched for signs of life on Earth from afar

An extraterrestrial spacecraft lurking in a satellite’s orbit nearby Earth would be able to see city lights and pollution in our atmosphere. But what if it searched for signs of life on Earth from afar? This question has great pertinence to those searching for other Earths outside of our solar system. NASA’s Keppler space telescope is among a fleet of telescopes and spacecraft searching for rocky planets alike to our own. Once the size and location of these worlds are plotted, the next step is examining the chemical composition of their atmospheres.

Attabad Lake Formed Due to Massive Landslides

Rare photo when in January 4, 2010 a landslide started, which resulted blockage of the Hunza River. The lake was formed due to a massive landslide at Attabad village in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.

The silver-breasted broadbill

The silver-breasted broadbill is a species of bird in the broadbill family Eurylaimidae. It is monotypic within the genus Serilophus.

Vertical Gardens Know as Supertrees Marina Bay Singapore

These solar-powered, vertical gardens known as ‘Supertrees’ come alive with a light and music show. Located in Marina Bay, Singapore, the trees are part of the Gardens by the Bay park.

Stunning Photographs of Colorful Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are famous for flapping their wings exceptionally fast that they create a distinct hum and appear as a blur of feathers right before your eyes. To look over the beauty of such a miniature creature is near impossible when the birds are zipping rapidly through the air. 

Scotland photographer Chris Morgan demonstrated an incredible thirst for depicting the unique birds through his lens, during his trip to Costa Rica. To captivating hummingbirds, a lot of patience to be required, and Morgan did the job extremely well by capturing dazzling photos of many hummingbirds from quite close up. 

Morgan photographs feature the astonishingly sharp details of eyes, beaks, and layers of bright, iridescent feathers and viewers can actually stare directly into the large, shiny black eye of a single bird. 

Morgan said; the hummingbirds are normally so tempting to photograph to the point of madness and it took a while to be able to get any shots of one. In the space of an hour I took nearly a thousand of photographs. A good proportion was excellent out of focus pictures of bushes with no birds to be seen but i really felt my abilities improved over the hour, and nothing like a bit of practice.  Check out Christ Roger on Flickr

Source: Charismatic Planet

Wisteria tree at Ashikaga Flower Park, Japan

The Mamberamo River

The Mamberamo River. Like any old river, only BETTER. Found snaking its way through the island of New Guinea in Papua, Indonesia this is the largest, widest and surely most impressive river in the country.

Bonsai Japanese Red Maple

Bonsai Japanese Red Maple Originally, the term Bonsai simply meant "a plant grown in a container". Nowadays, Bonsai means "miniaturized plant, shrub, or tree in a planter". This miniaturization process is accomplished by planting in a smaller than normal container and by sensible pruning to make the plant resemble its larger counterpart in nature.

Deosai National Park

The Deosai National Park is located in the Skardu District of Gilgit-Baltistan province, in northernmost Pakistan. Deosai means 'the land of Giants'. The park is located on the Deosai Plains of the Gilgit-Baltistan geographic region. Deosai is a tourist attraction and lot of tourists who visit Baltistan go to Deosai as well. Deosai Plateau which is the second highest plateau in the world after the Chang Tang in Tibet. In local Balti language, Deosai is called Byarsa, meaning ‘summer place’. The plateau is located at the boundary of the Karakorum and the western Himalayas.

Fairy Meadows, Nanga Parbat.

Fairy Meadows, named by German climbers (German Märchenwiese, ″fairy tale meadows″) and locally known as Joot, is a grassland near one of the base camp sites of the Nanga Parbat, located in Diamer District, Gilgit-Baltistan. At an altitude of about 3,300 meters above the sea level, it serves as the launching point for trekkers summiting on the Rakhiot face of the Nanga Parbat. In 1995, the Government of Pakistan declared Fairy Meadows a National Park.

Ambesh Lake (Home of Brown & Golden Trouts Fish)

Ambesh Lake - Some four Hours Trek fron Handrap Lake, Ghizer Valley Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

Blue-footed booby

The blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii) is a marine bird in the family Sulidae, which includes ten species of long-winged seabirds. The natural breeding habitats of the blue-footed booby are the tropical and subtropical islands of the Pacific Ocean. It can be found from the Gulf of California down along the western coasts of Central and South America down to Peru. Approximately one half of all breeding pairs nest on the Galápagos Islands.

The beauty of Shandur lake!

Shandur Lake is a lake and is located in North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The estimate terrain elevation above seal level is 3598 metres. Variant forms of spelling for Shandur Lake or in other languages: Shandur Lake, Shandur Dand, Shandur Dand, Shandur Lake.

The Sweet Kip Kip Wheep Wheep Squirrel Cuckoo

The squirrel cuckoo (Piaya cayana) is a large and active species of cuckoo. It can be found in wooded habitats from northwestern Mexico to northern Argentina and Uruguay, and on Trinidad. The large cuckoo is extremely long-tailed about 40.5–50 centimeters long and weighs 95 to 120 grams. It is common and is most often seen in gliding from one tree to another, or enthusiastically hopping from branch to branch in hunt of a wide variety of arthropods. The adult cuckoo has mainly chestnut upper-parts and head, becoming paler on the throat. The lower breast is grey and the belly is blackish. The central tail feathers are Rufous, but the outer are black with white tips. The bill is yellow and the iris is red. Immature birds have a grey bill and eyeing, brown iris, and less white in the tail. 

It looks like the little cuckoo, but that species is smaller and has a darker throat. However unique throughout its range it is highly polytypic with fourteen subspecies that vary in the coloration of their under-parts, throat, bare parts, and tail. Therefore; few of these subspecies are quite different, and due to their lack of integration with adjoining subspecies maybe represent separate species. The Squirrel Cuckoo is a common species that inhabits a diversity of forested habitats across its range, including humid to semi humid forest, deciduous forest, forest edge, second growth, plantations, and even scattered trees in open country.

There’re a number of subspecies with minor plumage variations. i.e P. c. mehleri, one of the South American subspecies, has mainly brown outer tail feathers. Moreover, the subspecies from Mexico, Central America, and northern and western South America have a yellow eye-ring, but this is red in the remaining part of South America. It is explosive kip! kip! weeuu calls, and the song is a whistled wheep wheep wheep wheep wheep. Nests are constructed in trees or in low dense growth. Although building, one partner male brings material to the other, who stays on the nest and arranges it. The completed nest comprises of a loose foundation of coarse sticks supporting a thick mass of leaves, some of which are green when brought back. The clutch typically is two egg which are chalky white and unmarked; the eggs may become stained brown by the leaves in the nest. Source: Charismatic Planet

 

Cape Leveque

Cape Leveque is the northernmost tip of the Dampier Peninsula in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. This area is truly isolated from the rest of the world and only accessible by air or four-wheel drive from Broome. (Photo: Joanne Oliver)

Burgess Falls — A beautiful view of Burgess Falls located in Burgess Falls State Park, Putnam County, Tennessee

Burgess Falls — A beautiful view of Burgess Falls located in Burgess Falls State Park, Putnam County, Tennessee. Photo credit: Alan Cressler

The Great Barrier Reef in Queensland is home to six of the world’s seven marine turtle species.

The Great Barrier Reef in Queensland is home to six of the world’s seven marine turtle species. Just like this grumpy fellow who was spotted at Lady Elliot Island recently.