Natural Phenomena and Life Forms

Images depicting natural environments and life processes, from Martian sands to hatching squid eggs, highlighting diverse organic and geological textures.

Light microscopy footage of a leech (family Glossiphoniidae). Its internal organs, one pair of eyes and dorsal plate is visible.

Sand dunes cover much of this terrain, which has large boulders lying on flat areas between the dunes in this image captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.

spear squid eggs hatching out loligo bleekeri osezaki, shizuoka, japan.

Close-up of liquid

A series of microscope photographs showing the melting of ice. (Part 1 of 13) .

Juvenile fish hiding in a large jellyfish (Rhizostomae sp) found in Balayan Bay, off Anilao, Batangas, Philippines, Pacific Ocean.

Bright Halo Impact Crater on Ganymede

This dramatic image observed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows dark rippled bodies of sand, sometimes in the form of dunes, streaming through Ganges Chasma. The floor of the canyon is covered by hills and mesas.

This striking Jovian vista was created by citizen scientists Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran using data from the JunoCam imager on NASA's Juno spacecraft. The tumultuous Great Red Spot is fading from Juno's view while the dynamic bands of the southern region of Jupiter come into focus. North is to the left of the image, and south is on the right. The image was taken on July 10, 2017 at 7 12 p.m. PDT (10 12 p.m. EDT), as the Juno spacecraft performed its seventh close flyby of Jupiter. At the time the image was taken, the spacecraft was 10,274 miles (16,535 kilometers) from the tops of the clouds of the planet at a latitude of -36.9 degrees.

This color picture of Io, Jupiter's innermost Galilean satellite, was taken by Voyager 1 on the morning of March 5, 1979.

Head mould (Mucor sp.)

alien terrain with craters made in 3d software

Moon Jellyfish with small fish seeking protection underneath.

Mast cell

A series of microscope photographs showing the melting of ice. (Part 1 of 13) .

Cerberus Fossae is a steep-sided set of troughs cutting volcanic plains to the east of Elysium Mons. Steep slopes on Mars have active landslides (also called mass wasting ), and here we see evidence for two types of activity. First, the light bluish boulders on the slope appear to originate at a layer of bedrock (also light blue) near the top of the section. Second, the dark thin lines are recurring slope lineae, probably also due to mass wasting, but composed of finer-grained materials.

Bluish Baker Egg, Thunderegg, New Mexico

Bdelloid Rotifer

Computer generated tornado dust cloud

embryo wound healing SEM

Autochrome photograph by Eduard Valenta showing granite stone thinning under polarized light, produced in 1908.

Petra. Petrean types, etc. Curious geological formation in Petrean sandstone. 1920, Jordan, Petra (Extinct city)

Scales of a butterfly's wing of the Meander Prepona (Archaeoprepona meander), underside of a wing, Tambopata, Peru, South America

South Atlantic Ice Field from Space

Aniline hydrochloride seen under a microscope.

This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows some striking dark downslope flows in Aram Chaos.

Spills of multicolored metallic dye mixing and spreading on black background

Hot Boiling Water in a saucepan

Taken in late southern spring and when Mars is near perihelion (closest distance to the Sun), this image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the effects of dry ice sublimation on a longitudinal dune in the far Southern hemisphere.

Areas of light showing neurons and their connective pathways.

This frame from an animation simulates a fly-around look at one of the places on Mars where dark streaks advance down slopes during warm seasons, possibly involving liquid water. This image is from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Martian Avalanches Seen By Mars Global Surveyor

This series examines Alberta oil sand extracts in a studio setting with macro and extreme macro lenses. Included with this classroom samples kit was enough oil sand to perform a si

Structure of an old paper with mould stains

Photograph by Eduard Valenta from 1908 showing a thin section of granite under polarized light, captured using Autochrom, highlighting mineral grains and texture.

Detail of Brain Tissue

The bones in the joint of an elbow, viewed through x-ray. Photoprint from radiograph after Sir Arthur Schuster, 1896.

Fires began near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine April 4, 2020. By April 14, the fires were nearly extinguished. On April 16, new fires erupted, sending large, dark gray clouds of smoke traveling over 750 km to the southeast. The ASTER image, acquired April 18, shows part of the billowing smoke plume. The image covers an area of 59.2 by 61.4 km, and is located near 51 degrees north, 30.1 degrees east.

Banded Agate, Quartzsite, AZ.

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Detail of the Rio Tinto (Red river) with its reddish hue due to oxidised iron minerals and other mineral-rich deposits in its water, aerial view, dron...

Tharsis Limb Cloud

This image was acquired on January 2, 2014 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Dune fields located among canyon wall slopes are also known as wall dune fields and are further identified as either climbing or falling. Falling dunes are defined as large bedforms with lee faces on the downhill side-indicating that this is the direction of their migration-and on moderate slopes greater than 10 to 12 degrees. (A lee face is the the down-wind side of a dune.) On Earth and Mars, these types of dunes are largely controlled by what is called microtopography. Physical obstacles can accelerate and decelerate airflow, create turbulence, potentially enhancing erosion, deposition, and/or transport of dune sediment. This class of dune morphology is relatively rare across Mars. However, falling dunes (like these) and climbing fields are frequently located among the spur-and-gully walls in the Melas and Coprates chasmata (see the paper here). Here is one example, of active falling dunes on this larg

Nerve cell, illustration.

NASA's Magellan radar image shows Alpha Regio, a topographic upland. In 1963 Alpha Regio was the first feature on Venus to be identified from Earth based radar.

This single frame from a color movie of Jupiter from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows what it would look like to unpeel the entire globe of Jupiter, stretch it out on a wall into the form of a rectangular map.

Anatomical model showing the structure of the nasal bones.

Leaf coral (Pavona decussata) spawning, with streams of sperm sent into water column in synchrony with gametes from other nearby colonies of hard coral.East China Sea, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.

Needle-like crystals of Epidote, silicate, and Quartz, oxide.

Muddy water

This view, taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows color variations in bright layered deposits on a plateau near Juventae Chasma in the Valles Marineris region of Mars.

AS09-26A-3800A (12 March 1969) --- Color infrared photograph of southwestern Arizona, Yuma-Gila Desert-Gila River-Colorado River area, taken on March 12, 1969, by one of the four synchronized cameras of the Apollo 9 Earth Resources Survey SO65 Experiment. At 11:28 a.m. (EST) when this picture was made the Apollo 9 spacecraft was at an altitude of 128 nautical miles, and the sun elevation was 30 degrees above the horizon. The location of the point on Earth's surface at which the four-camera combination was aimed 33 degrees 19 minutes north latitude, and 113 degrees 45 minutes west longitude. The other three cameras used: (B) black and white film with a red filter; (C) black and white infrared film; and (D) black and white film with a green filter.

Bubbles in brown fluid.

This image, acquired by NASA's Terra spacecraft on Mar. 17, 2012, is of Jebel Uweinat, a mountain range in the area of the Egyptian-Sudanese-Libyan border. It is reportedly one of the driest places on earth.

Bacteria - iron and manganese oxidizers and their complementary reducers, in the mud of an empty fish pond, Upper Lusatia Heath and Pond Landscape, Upper Lusatia UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Germany

Frog egg mass, value of isolated wetlands. Creator: Pattavina, Pete. Descriptive Note: Frog egg mass in early spring, Georgia. Subjects: Frog; amphibian; egg mass; isolated Wetlands; wet pine savanna; Georgia; Coastal environments Plain Physiographic Province.

Aerial view of a cluster of sandstone in Utah desert valley plateau, Hanksville, United States.

This photomicrograph of a specimen stained with Wheatleys trichrome revealed the presence of a parasitic trophozoite, Entamoeba histolytica. The view was enhanced by using an oil emersion technique, as well as viewing the scene through a blue filter. CDC/Dr Lanny Dykes 1976

alien terrain with craters made in 3d software

The texture of molten lava. Lava crack ground mud

Detail of the Rio Tinto (Red river) with its reddish hue due to oxidised iron minerals and other mineral-rich deposits in its water, aerial view, dron...

Sand Dunes in Proctor Crater, Mars, From Mars Global Surveyor

Scanning electron microscopic image of Treponema pallidum bacteria

A830141 U12G PERF #3 WARPINSKI (Project Engineer) JAN 17 83 EG&G/NTS PHOTO LAB Publication Date: 1/17/1983 CRACKED; CRACKS; EDGERTON, GERMESHAUSEN & GRIER; EG&G; G-TUNNEL; HOLES; MARKED; MARKINGS; NEVADA; NEVADA TEST SITE; NTS; PERF #3; PERF 3; PIPELINES; TEST SITES; TUNNELS; TUNNELS BY USAGE; UGT; UNDERGROUND; UNDERGROUND TESTING historical images. 1972 - 2012. Department of Energy. National Nuclear Security Administration. Photographs Related to Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site.

In Vitro Fertilization. Spermatozoa around an ovum Light microscope

Research Specimens

Eye scanning. Close up of human eye on digital technology background

Several terrain types converge in this scene observed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from Arsinoes Chaos, in the far eastern portions of Valles Marineris.

The Red Spot is the largest known storm in the Solar System. With a diameter of 15,400 miles, it is almost twice the size of the entire Earth and one-sixth the diameter of Jupiter itself.

Detail of the Rio Tinto (Red river) with its reddish hue due to oxidised iron minerals and other mineral-rich deposits in its water, aerial view, drone shot, Huelva province, Andalusia, Spain, Europe

Io's Chain of Craters

A761045 U12G TUNNEL HYDRA FRAC MINEBACK BILL VOLLENDORF (PROJECT ENGINEER) AUG 12 76 EG&G/NTS PHOTO LAB Publication Date: 8/12/1976 EDGERTON, GERMESHAUSEN & GRIER; EG&G; EQUIPMENT & INSTRUMENTS; HYDRA FRAC; HYDRA FRAC MINEBACK; INSTRUMENTS & EQUIPMENT; MEASURED; MEASUREMENT & RELATIONSHIP; MEASURING DEVICES (EXC UTENSIL; NEVADA; NEVADA TEST SITE; NTS; NUCLEAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY; NUCLEAR TESTING; NUCLEAR TESTS; PICKAXES; ROCKS & MINERALS (MISC); ROCKS (MISCELLANEOUS); TAPE MEASURES; TEST SITES; UGT; UNDERGROUND; UNDERGROUND TESTING; VOLLENDORF, BILL historical images. 1972 - 2012. Department of Energy. National Nuclear Security Administration. Photographs Related to Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site.

Spine Spine of a sea turtle in its shell Copyright: xZoonar.com/TimxHesterxPhotographyx 3133583

Close view of tortoise skin; Seychelles

Liver fluke, illustration

Top view of the salt lake mud sources. External similarity with craters. Mud healing springs Top view of the salt lake mud sources. External similarity with craters. Mud healing springs. Copyright: xZoonar.com/LeonidxEremeychukx 9801100

Banded Agate, Quartzsite, AZ.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Right on schedule, six solid rocket boosters fall away from the Delta II rocket carrying NASA's THEMIS spacecraft to orbit. The first six boosters were jettisoned after 66 seconds of flight. The rocket has a total of nine boosters. Launch was at 6:01 p.m. EST from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. THEMIS, an acronym for Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms, consists of five identical probes that will track violent, colorful eruptions near the North Pole. This will be the largest number of scientific satellites NASA has ever launched into orbit aboard a single rocket. The THEMIS mission aims to unravel the mystery behind auroral substorms, an avalanche of magnetic energy powered by the solar wind that intensifies the northern and southern lights. The mission will investigate what causes auroras in the Earths atmosphere to dramatically change from slowly shimmering waves of light to wildly shifting streaks of

Crystalline sugar dissolves in water. Macro view

Hot Boiling Water in a saucepan

Color satellite image of Niger, with mask.

Horse's Hoof Clam (Hippopus hippopus) mantle detail, Indonesia

Butterfly Scales x25 (Nymphalidae a. paphia) Dorset, UK

This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was planned to search for gully activity in the Northern Hemisphere.

Nasute Termite (Nasutitermes sp) nest reveals soldiers with dart-gun heads, Amazonian Peru

Mud 07

Chrysaora fuscescens, a common free-floating scyphozoan which lives in the East Pacific Ocean. Dated 21st Century

MINERAL-CLORURO FERRICO.

This field of dunes lies on the floor of an old crater in Noachis Terra, one of the oldest places on Mars, as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

GRISAILLES - 1997. Author: JOSE MARIA SICILIA. Location: PRIVATE COLLECTION.

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