Photograph by Marilyn Susek.
Photography contest, Honorable Mention.
Rayleigh scattering at sunset, near Ravenfield, UK. The sun is near the horizon, and its rays travel a long distance through the atmosphere, which filters blue light as a result of Rayleigh scattering. The clouds are therefore illuminated by red light and appear red. In this picture the sun is somewhat overexposed and incorrectly appears yellow.
That picture would be better if not for that ugly metal thing in it!
Funny, I chose it because of the foreground.
Marilyn · 4 January 2011
Dale Husband said:
That picture would be better if not for that ugly metal thing in it!
You might like to see the amazing really good 'apod' at NASA today.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/
John Stockwell · 4 January 2011
My favorite Rayleigh scattering demo is to use a glass of watered down milk. The glass must be clear and the milk watered down enough so that it is translucent. The milk has a bluish tint when illuminated in reflection. When illuminated in transmission, light seen coming through the milk looks reddish.
If you have a piece of moonstone, that also exhibits the same phenomenon.
SWT · 4 January 2011
John Stockwell said:
My favorite Rayleigh scattering demo is to use a glass of watered down milk.
The glass must be clear and the milk watered down enough so that it is
translucent. The milk has a bluish tint when illuminated in reflection.
When illuminated in transmission, light seen coming through the milk looks
reddish.
If you have a piece of moonstone, that also exhibits the same phenomenon.
I did something like that with one of my kids when he was in middle school -- he had to do a little science project every week, so we did the milky water scattering experiment, we made little diffraction grating spectroscopes, made pH indicators from kitchen materials ... all kinds of fun stuff.
wright1 · 4 January 2011
Lovely composition: the pylon contrasting with the sun, the land falling away in successive ripples to the horizon.
Dale Husband said:
That picture would be better if not for that ugly metal thing in it!
You might like to see the amazing really good 'apod' at NASA today.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/
Oh, yes, that is much more impressive!
Vince · 4 January 2011
Marilyn said:Dale Husband said:
That picture would be better if not for that ugly metal thing in it!
You might like to see the amazing really good 'apod' at NASA today.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/
Taking a more artistic approach: The pylons framing the setting sun give me the impression of mankind "framing" nature and leads to all sorts of thoughts on how populations influence the planet. Reminds me of WHY I became a Biologist...
John Stockwell · 5 January 2011
SWT said:
John Stockwell said:
My favorite Rayleigh scattering demo is to use a glass of watered down milk.
The glass must be clear and the milk watered down enough so that it is
translucent. The milk has a bluish tint when illuminated in reflection.
When illuminated in transmission, light seen coming through the milk looks
reddish.
If you have a piece of moonstone, that also exhibits the same phenomenon.
I did something like that with one of my kids when he was in middle school -- he had to do a little science project every week, so we did the milky water scattering experiment, we made little diffraction grating spectroscopes, made pH indicators from kitchen materials ... all kinds of fun stuff.
You can use an old CD as a diffraction grating. I discovered this quite by accident one day by seeing the reflection of the florescent lights in my kitchen off of the written side of a CD.
When I was a kid you had to buy diffraction gratings. Now, they are everywhere.
Ichthyic · 5 January 2011
I discovered this quite by accident one day by seeing the reflection of the florescent lights in my kitchen off of the written side of a CD.
as an arts and crafts project, stick a CD in the microwave for about 3 seconds.
check out the pattern that develops.
a buddy actually used to make sculptures and clocks out of nuked CD's.
slang · 5 January 2011
I like the contrasting powerlines in the foreground. That's what we puny humans do with electromagnetic radation, and in the background, much more beautiful, what the universe can do with it. Nice.
Shebardigan · 5 January 2011
Heh. For SETI enthusiasts, it is worth pondering the fact that there are two radio frequencies at which planet Earth is the brightest object in this galaxy; perhaps the brightest within the entire universe.
We aren't presently looking for other civilisations that have a similar brightness at slightly different but functionally equivalent frequencies.
Pity. But then the antenna arrays required are truly enormous by present standards.
12 Comments
Dale Husband · 3 January 2011
That picture would be better if not for that ugly metal thing in it!
Matt Young · 3 January 2011
Marilyn · 4 January 2011
John Stockwell · 4 January 2011
My favorite Rayleigh scattering demo is to use a glass of watered down milk.
The glass must be clear and the milk watered down enough so that it is
translucent. The milk has a bluish tint when illuminated in reflection.
When illuminated in transmission, light seen coming through the milk looks
reddish.
If you have a piece of moonstone, that also exhibits the same phenomenon.
SWT · 4 January 2011
wright1 · 4 January 2011
Lovely composition: the pylon contrasting with the sun, the land falling away in successive ripples to the horizon.
Dale Husband · 4 January 2011
Vince · 4 January 2011
John Stockwell · 5 January 2011
Ichthyic · 5 January 2011
I discovered this quite by accident one day by seeing the reflection of the florescent lights in my kitchen off of the written side of a CD.
as an arts and crafts project, stick a CD in the microwave for about 3 seconds.
check out the pattern that develops.
a buddy actually used to make sculptures and clocks out of nuked CD's.
slang · 5 January 2011
I like the contrasting powerlines in the foreground. That's what we puny humans do with electromagnetic radation, and in the background, much more beautiful, what the universe can do with it. Nice.
Shebardigan · 5 January 2011
Heh. For SETI enthusiasts, it is worth pondering the fact that there are two radio frequencies at which planet Earth is the brightest object in this galaxy; perhaps the brightest within the entire universe.
We aren't presently looking for other civilisations that have a similar brightness at slightly different but functionally equivalent frequencies.
Pity. But then the antenna arrays required are truly enormous by present standards.