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June 16
|
The
almond
(
Prunus amygdalus
) is a species of tree in the family
Rosaceae
, the roses. It prospers in a moderate
Mediterranean climate
with cool winter weather, and is native to
Iran
and surrounding countries, although it is rarely now found wild in its original setting. The fruit of the almond is a
drupe
, consisting of an outer hull and a
hard shell
with the seed; botanically, it is not considered a
true nut
. It is used extensively as a culinary
nut
, however, and is cultivated worldwide. Around 80% of the world's almond supply is
produced in the US state of California
. This photograph shows an almond drupe in shell, shell cracked open, unshelled and blanched seed.
Photograph credit:
Ivar Leidus
|
June 15
|
Trithemis annulata
, commonly known as the violet dropwing, is a species of
dragonfly
in the family
Libellulidae
. It is found in most of Africa, the Middle East, and southern Europe. Males of this species are violet-red with red veins in the wings, while females are yellow and brown. Both sexes have red eyes. This female violet dropwing was photographed near
Kalopanagiotis
in Cyprus.
Photograph credit:
Charles J. Sharp
|
June 14
|
Al-Hajj
is the
22nd chapter
(
surah
) of the
Quran
, describing the pilgrimage to
Mecca
known as the
Hajj
. This Chinese scroll in ink, watercolour and gold on paper was produced in the second half of the 19th century, contains the full text of the chapter in Arabic, and is now part of the
Khalili Collection of Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage
. Almost five metres (16 feet) in length, the scroll's illustrations include a map entitled "Routes of the Hajj", a view of the
Great Wall of China
, and views of Mecca and
Medina
, as well as diagrammatic depictions of the stations of pilgrimage and Jerusalem, including the
Kaaba
. The illustrations are captioned in Chinese.
Calligraphy credit: 'Abdallah; photographed by the
Khalili Collections
|
June 13
|
The
Heart Nebula
is an
emission nebula
, 7500 light years from Earth, located in the
Perseus Arm
of the Milky Way in the constellation
Cassiopeia
. It was discovered by
William Herschel
on 3 November 1787. Spanning almost 2 degrees in the sky, its shape is driven by stellar winds from the hot stars in its core. The nebula displays glowing ionized
hydrogen
gas and darker
dust lanes
, and is also made up of ionised oxygen and sulfur gasses, which cause rich blue and orange colours to be seen in narrowband images. This photograph of the Heart Nebula, with the
Fish Head Nebula
also visible in the top right corner, is a narrowband image captured on a 70mm scope with a capture period of around 44 hours.
Photograph credit:
Ram Samudrala
|
June 12
|
The
green kingfisher
(
Chloroceryle americana
) is a species of bird in the
kingfisher
family, Alcedinidae. It is found from the southern United States, south through Central America, and in every mainland South American country except Chile. The green kingfisher is about 20?cm (7.9?in) long and weighs about 35 to 40?g (1.2 to 1.4?oz), with females being larger and heavier than males. It has various vocalisations, including one described as resembling "the striking of two pebbles together" and another as "a harsh, buzzy scold". This male green kingfisher, a member of the subspecies
C.?a.?americana
, was spotted close to the
Cristalino River
in the
Pantanal
, Brazil.
Photograph credit:
Charles J. Sharp
|
June 11
|
Zhou Fang
was a Chinese painter during the
Tang dynasty
, living in the capital of
Chang'an
(modern
Xi'an
) during the 8th century. He came from a noble background and this was reflected in his works. He personally painted for the emperor and the themes of his artwork covered religious subjects and everyday life. This
ink-and-color-on-silk painting
, titled
Court Ladies Playing Double-sixes
, measures 30.5?cm ×?69.1?cm (12.0?in ×?27.2?in) and depicts members of the emperor's household playing the board game
liubo
. It now hangs in the
Freer Gallery of Art
in Washington, D.C.
Painting credit:
Zhou Fang
|
June 10
|
An
oblique shock
is a
shock wave
that, unlike a normal shock, is inclined with respect to the direction of incoming air. It occurs when a supersonic flow encounters a corner that effectively turns the flow into itself and compresses. This photograph shows an oblique shock at the nose of a
Northrop T-38 Talon
aircraft, made visible through
Schlieren photography
.
Photograph credit: NASA & US Air Force (J.T. Heineck, Ed Schairer, Maj. Jonathan Orso, Maj. Jeremy Vanderhal)
|
June 9
|
Euchloe penia
, commonly known as the eastern greenish black-tip, is a
butterfly
in the family
Pieridae
. It is found in North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, and northern Iraq. The habitat consists of dry and warm rocky areas. Adults are a bright greenish off-yellow, with a wingspan of 32 to 36 millimetres (1.3 to 1.4 inches). There are two generations per year, with adults on wing in April and from June to July. The
larvae
feed on plants of the genus
Matthiola
. This
E.?penia
butterfly perching on a flower was photographed in
Pletvar
, North Macedonia.
Photograph credit:
Charles J. Sharp
|
June 8
June 7
June 6
|
The
martial eagle
(
Polemaetus bellicosus
) is a large
eagle
native to sub-Saharan Africa. A species of the booted eagle subfamily (
Aquilinae
), it has feathering over its
tarsus
. One of the largest and most powerful species of booted eagle, it is a fairly opportunistic predator that varies its prey selection between mammals, birds and reptiles. It is one of a few eagle species known to hunt primarily from a high soar, by stooping on its quarry. Currently, the species is classified as
endangered
by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature
. This martial eagle was photographed in the
Matetsi
safari area in Zimbabwe.
Photograph credit:
Charles J. Sharp
|
June 5
|
The
Douglas fir
(
Pseudotsuga menziesii
) is an evergreen
conifer
species in the pine family,
Pinaceae
, which is native to western North America. The trees grow to a height of around 20 to 100 metres (70 to 330 feet) and commonly reach 2.4 metres (8 feet) in diameter. The largest coast Douglas firs regularly live for more than 500 years, with the oldest specimens more than 1,300 years old. The
cones
are pendulous and differ from true
firs
as they have persistent scales. The cones have distinctive long,
trifid
(three-pointed)
bracts
, which protrude prominently above each scale. The cones become tan when mature, measuring
6 to 10 centimetres (
2
+
1
?
2
to 4 inches) long for coastal Douglas firs. This photograph shows a young female cone of the variety
Pseudotsuga menziesii
var.?
glauca
(Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir), cultivated near
Keila
, Estonia.
Photograph credit:
Ivar Leidus
|
June 4
|
HMS?
Malabar
was a 74-gun
ship of the line
of the
Royal Navy
, launched in 1818 at
Bombay Dockyard
. In 1838,
Malabar
ran aground off
Prince Edward Island
in British North America and was damaged, with the loss of two crew members. She was refloated later that year and towed into
Three Rivers
in
Lower Canada
. In August?1843,
Malabar
, under the command of
Sir George Sartorius
, assisted in fighting a fire that destroyed the
United States Navy
sidewheel frigate
USS?
Missouri
at
Gibraltar
, taking aboard about 200 of that ship's survivors.
Malabar
was converted to a
hulk
in 1848, eventually becoming a coal hulk, and was renamed
Myrtle
in 1883. The hulk was sold out of the navy in 1905. This
lithograph
from around 1843 shows the crew of
Malabar
watching as
Missouri
explodes and burns in the distance.
Lithograph credit:
Thomas Goldsworthy Dutton
, after
Edward Duncan
and
George Pechell Mends
; restored by
Adam Cuerden
|
June 3
|
Laothoe populi
, the poplar hawk-moth, is a
moth
of the family
Sphingidae
. The species is found throughout the
Palearctic realm
and the
Near East
, and is one of the most common members of the family in the region. On first hatching, the
larvae
are pale green with small yellow tubercules and a cream-coloured tail horn, at which point they are known as hornworms. They later develop yellow diagonal stripes on the sides, and pink spiracles. This photograph, taken in
Saint-Quentin-en-Tourmont
, France, shows a late
instar
of
L.?populi
.
Photograph credit:
Charles J. Sharp
|
June 2
June 1
|
Jeremiah Gurney
(1812?1895) was an American
daguerreotype
photographer. Initially working in the jewelry trade in
Saratoga, New York
, he took up photography after learning of daguerreotype from
Samuel Morse
, moving to New York City where he began selling photographs alongside jewelry. He was one of the earliest photographers in the city, and may have been the owner of the first photographic gallery in the United States. Gurney took this self-portrait photograph around 1869; it is now in the collection of the
Minneapolis Institute of Art
.
Photograph credit:
Jeremiah Gurney
; restored by
Adam Cuerden
|
May 31
|
The
common moorhen
(
Gallinula chloropus
) is a bird species in the
rail
family, Rallidae. It is distributed across many parts of the
Old World
, from Africa to Europe and Asia. It lives around well-vegetated marshes, ponds, canals and other wetlands. A midsized to large rail, the common moorhen ranges in length from 30 to 38 cm (12 to 15 in) in length and spans 50 to 62 cm (20 to 24 in) across the wings. It gives a wide range of gargling calls and will emit loud hisses when threatened. This common moorhen was photographed in the Parc des Chanteraines near
Gennevilliers
in the suburbs of Paris, France.
Photograph credit:
Alexis Lours
|
May 30
|
A
peanut
, also known as a groundnut, is the fruit of
Arachis hypogaea
, a plant in the family
Fabaceae
. The peanut is classed as a grain
legume
rather than as a botanical
nut
, although in culinary and colloquial use it is generally treated as one. Uses of peanuts include consumption as a snack and in various dishes,
peanut butter
, and?? due to its high oil content?? as a
vegetable oil
.
Peanuts cause allergic reactions
in some humans. Clockwise from top left, this photograph shows a peanut with its shell cracked open, a whole unshelled peanut, an unpeeled peanut seed, a halved peeled seed, and a whole peeled seed. This picture was
focus-stacked
from 31 separate images.
Photograph credit:
Ivar Leidus
|
May 29
|
Lake Estancia
was a
prehistoric body of water
in the
Estancia Valley
, in the center of the U.S. state of
New Mexico
. Mostly fed by creek and
groundwater
from the
Manzano Mountains
, the lake had diverse fauna, including
cutthroat trout
. It appears to have formed when a river system broke up. It reached a maximum water level (highstand) presumably during the
Illinoian
glaciation and subsequently fluctuated between a desiccated basin and fuller stages. Wind-driven erosion has excavated depressions in the former lakebed that are in part filled with
playas
(dry lake beds). The lake was one of several
pluvial lakes
in southwestern North America that developed during the late
Pleistocene
. Their formation has been variously attributed to decreased temperatures during the
ice age
and increased precipitation; a shutdown of the
thermohaline circulation
and the
Laurentide Ice Sheet
altered atmospheric circulation patterns and increased precipitation in the region. The lake has yielded a good
paleoclimatic
record. This map shows the shoreline of Lake Estancia at three different periods: early Estancia (1,939?m?/ 6,362?ft above sea level), late Estancia (1,897?m?/ 6,224?ft), and "Lake Willard" (1,870?m?/ 6,135?ft). Present-day populated places, county boundaries and roads are overlaid on the map for identification.
Map credit:
Tom Fish
|
May 28
|
Acraea terpsicore
, commonly known as the tawny coster, is a species of butterfly in the
Nymphalidae
family, the brush-footed butterflies. It is found across eastern Asia from India and Sri Lanka to Singapore, Indonesia and the Maldives and, more recently, Australia. It is small, with a size of 53?64 millimetres (2.1?2.5?in), has leathery wings and is common in grassland and scrub habitats.
Acraea terpsicore
has a weak fluttery flight and is avoided by most insect predators. This
A. terpsicore
individual was photographed in
Komodo National Park
, Indonesia.
Photograph credit:
Charles J. Sharp
|
May 27
|
Wheat Fields
is a series of dozens of paintings by Dutch artist
Vincent van Gogh
. The close association of peasants and the cycles of nature particularly interested Van Gogh, such as the sowing of seeds, harvest and sheaves of wheat in the fields. Van Gogh saw plowing, sowing and harvesting symbolic to man's efforts to overwhelm the cycles of nature. This oil-on-canvas
Wheat Fields
painting, also sometimes known as
Wheat Field with Alpilles Foothills in the Background
, was created in June 1888 and is now in the
Van Gogh Museum
in Amsterdam.
Painting credit:
Vincent van Gogh
|
May 26
|
The
Giechburg
is a partly reconstructed hilltop castle located in the town of
Scheßlitz
in
Bavaria
, Germany. There was a hilltop fort at the site from at least
Neolithic
times, and the castle enters written history in 1125. In 1390, it entered the possession of the
prince-bishops of Bamberg
, and its history thereafter is closely allied to the bishopric and the city of
Bamberg
. The castle was destroyed and rebuilt several times over the subsequent centuries before undergoing extensive redevelopment between 1599 and 1609. It became less useful to the prince-bishops over the subsequent centuries however, and eventually fell into ruin. After a period in the 19th and 20th centuries in the hands of the von Giech family, the castle was eventually acquired by the district of Bamberg in 1971 and reconstructed as a conference and hospitality centre. This 2021 aerial photograph shows the Giechburg viewed from the north, with the village of Peulendorf in the background.
Photograph credit:
Reinhold Moller
|
May 25
|
The
plains-wanderer
(
Pedionomus torquatus
) is a bird in the family Pedionomidae, of which it is the only surviving species. Endemic to Australia, its historical range included
Victoria
,
New South Wales
,
South Australia
and the
Northern Territory
, but in recent years it has become endangered, with remaining known populations concentrated in the Riverina (a region in southwestern New South Wales) and western Queensland. The plains-wanderer is a
quail
-like ground bird, measuring 15 to 19 centimetres (5.9 to 7.5?in). The adult male is light brown above, with fawn-white underparts with black crescents. The adult female is substantially larger than the male and has a distinctive white-spotted black collar. This female plains-wanderer was photographed in the Riverina, north of the town of
Deniliquin
, New South Wales.
Photograph credit:
John Harrison
|
May 24
|
Ethel Smyth
(1858?1944) was an English composer and a member of the
women's suffrage
movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas. Smyth's extensive body of work includes the Concerto for Violin, Horn and Orchestra, and the
Mass in D
. Her opera
The Wreckers
is considered by some critics to be the "most important English opera composed during the period between
Purcell
and
Britten
". This photograph of Smyth was taken in 1922.
Photograph credit: unknown; restored by
Adam Cuerden
|
May 23
|
InSight
was an American spacecraft mission launched by
NASA
and the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
, consisting of a robotic
lander
designed to study the deep interior of the planet
Mars
. Launched in 2018, the mission was active until late 2022, when contact with the lander was lost.
InSight
's
objectives were to place a
seismometer
on the surface of Mars to measure seismic activity and provide accurate three-dimensional models of the planet's interior, and to measure internal
heat transfer
using a heat probe to study Mars's early geological evolution. This was intended to provide a new understanding of how the Solar System's
terrestrial planets
(Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) as well as the Moon formed and evolved. This 2015 photograph shows three technicians working on the
InSight
lander with its
solar panels
deployed during preflight testing in a
cleanroom
in
Denver
, Colorado.
Photograph credit:
NASA
?/
JPL-Caltech
?/
Lockheed Martin
|
May 22
|
De Viron Castle
is a castle in the town of
Dilbeek
in Flemish Brabant, Belgium. Commissioned by the de Viron family, which settled in Dilbeek in 1775, the castle was built in 1863 by
Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar
. The
Tudor-style
castle was built on the ruins of a 14th-century fortification that was destroyed in 1862. One of the medieval towers, the Sint-Alenatoren, can still be seen in the park surrounding the current building and is named after
Saint Alena
, who lived in Dilbeek. The castle has served as the town hall of Dilbeek and housed the offices of the municipality since 1923, and was listed as a
Belgian protected monument
in 1990. This photograph shows the facade of De Viron Castle with the surrounding park in the foreground.
Photograph credit:
Benoit Brummer
|
May 21
May 20
May 19
|
The
acorn
is the
nut
of the
oak
tree and its close relatives, in the family
Fagaceae
. Acorns usually contain a
seedling
surrounded by two
cotyledons
(seedling leaves), enclosed in a tough
shell
known as the pericarp, and borne in a cup-shaped
cupule
. This acorn of the species
Quercus robur
(the pedunculate oak), with a length of 25 millimetres (1 inch), was photographed in
Keila
, Estonia.
Photograph credit:
Ivar Leidus
|
May 18
|
Sea urchins
are a group of
spiny
globular
echinoderms
which form the class Echinoidea. About 950 species live on the seabed, inhabiting all oceans and depth zones from the
intertidal
to 5,000 metres (16,000 feet; 2,700 fathoms). Their
tests
(hard shells) are round and spiny, typically from 3 to 10 centimetres (1 to 4 inches) across. Sea urchins move slowly, crawling with their
tube feet
, and sometimes pushing themselves with their spines. They feed primarily on
algae
but also eat slow-moving or sessile animals. Their
predators
include
sea otters
,
starfish
,
wolf eels
, and
triggerfish
. This photograph, taken off the northern coast of Haiti near
Cap-Haitien
, shows two species of sea urchin: a
West Indian sea egg
(top)
and a
reef urchin
(bottom)
.
Photograph credit:
Nick Hobgood
, edited by
Lycaon
|