It would be neat to see the boulders that move around on the desert. I little moisture and they change position.
I would like to see and hear the ringing rocks that peel like a bell when struck.
It would be neat to see the giant quartz cyrstals that have been found in the deepest mines in the earth. I’ve seen pictures of people dwarfed by them.
I would also like to know how the Black Mountain was formed in Australia. It’s a giant pile of granite boulders. I believe one pile is refered to as Black Mountain, but I also hear the phrase Black Mountain Ranges. People tend to disapear, due to all the cavities between the boulders. No bottom to the whole thing has ever been reached as far as I know. Be ready for Rock Pythons in the hollows and tunnels of the structure. I realy can’t believe it hasn’t been the settings for a horror movie.
This is a really simple everyday one, but I love that horizon optical illusion that makes the full moon look like a friggin dinner plate when it’s low down.
Is this same term used to describe the phenomena when you look at your shadow in a body of water, and the sun beams all seem to be radiating from your head?
My dad often used to talk about the green flash, and we were all like, “Right! Uh-huh.”
A year or so after he died, my family was on vacation in Florida. Watching a beautiful sunset, my wife and I commented on my dad and the GF. And then we both saw it.
(Way too cool too be a mere coincidence. I can’t imagine any explanation other than that there is an afterlife and my dad was trying to communicate with us!)
As I recall, it essentially happened right after the sun appeared to set. Not all that unusual when you think of the wierd optical things going on as you watch a sunset.
Not in my experience. Heiligenschein is the retroreflection caused by dewdrops balanced on the “hairs” of grasses. Sunlight is concentrated onto the grass by the dewdrops actinmg as lenses. They then re-direct that light back along its original path. You only see it really bright if you’re standing in the line between the sun and the plants – you get a bright glow around your shadow. See R.A.R. Tricker’s Intro. to Meteorological Optics.
The “rays” you see around your head in slightly muddy water is something else altogether. You can find references explaining it (and heiligenschein, for that matter) in Jearl D. Walker’s book the Flying Circus of Physics. It’s the ultimate reference on oddball physics. It definitely needs an update, though – Walker wrote it back in 1976 and, aside from adding some capsule explanations, hasn’t updated it since.
I saw bioluminescence in the water here on the Northern California coast, once, many years ago. Extremely cool – the waves had a faint green glow as they broke; and if you kicked wet sand, you would get a shower of green sparks.
One of the large meteor showers is this friday and saturday for it’s peak period. I’ve only seen one good shower and that made up for the years of pitiful viewing. You may get 1 a minute if the clouds stay away.
