Remember Rosetta? That comet-chasing European Space Agency (ESA) probe that deployed (and accidentally bounced) its lander Philae on the surface of Comet 67P? This GIF is made up of images Rosetta beamed back to Earth, which have been freely available online for a while. But it took Twitter user landru79 processing and assembling them into this short, looped clip to reveal the drama they contained.
while the stuff in the foreground is dust/ice on the surface of the comet itself, the background is actually stars. i saw a stabilized video where you can really make it out, and it blew my mind.
here’s the stabilized clip, if anyone’s interested
This large damselfly species is my favourite damselfly to observe and photograph. They are not associated with waterways but are found on hillsides in thick vegetation usually bordering a sunny clearing or path. They are always in distinct pairs and often in groups of pairs. Furthermore they occupy a fixed territory which means they can be revisited on multiple occasions. It is a joy to see them there “waiting” for you on a return visit.
They congregate together in a dark corner as a group until the sun is at its warmest and then assume well-lit perches facing the open ground and from there they regularly dash out to capture small flying insects on the wing and returning to their perch to devour their meal. Initially they are very shy and flighty, but once I move amongst them for ten minutes or so they become amazingly tolerant to the point that I can reach out and touch them.
Apart from their iridescence and hypnotising eyes, the most memorable feature in my mind is the crackling cellophane sound of their almost clumsy flight.
They are the closest things to fairies I can imagine…..
NanoRain 