Image Description
Image Credit
A late-afternoon thunderstorm double rainbow - the classic display of optics in nature! Joseph Shaw, Montana State University, Bozeman, Mont., U.S.A.
01 Jan 2008
The Milky Way rising with Jupiter, both intensely bright in the exquisitely dark Rocky Mountain sky. Joseph Shaw, Montana State University, Bozeman, Mont., U.S.A.
"Stirred milk"-the Milky Way and other stars appear to rate around Polaris in a long-exposure photograph. Joseph Shaw, Montana State University, Bozeman, Mont., U.S.A.
Geometrical optics and scattering displayed together: the sunset sky and a glitter pattern on the Yellowstone River both appear orange because of heavy scattering by forest fire smoke. Joseph Shaw, Montana State University, Bozeman, Mont., U.S.A.
A bright star creates a glitter pattern on the Yellowstone River, while the nighttime sky takes on a day-like blue color from Rayleigh scattered moonlight. Joseph Shaw, Montana State University, Bozeman, Mont., U.S.A.
Icy cirrus clouds and jet contrails combine to create a "circumzenithal arc"-a fairly rare halo display high above the Florida palms. Joseph Shaw, Montana State University, Bozeman, Mont., U.S.A.
Thin-film layer edge shadowing and conchoidal fracture in glass substrate by phase contrast microscopy. Samuel Pellicori, Brooks Institute, Santa Barbara, Calif., U.S.A.
Maggies fascination with plasma filamentation and glow discharge. Robert Kane, Philips Laboratories (retired), Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J., U.S.A.
A Ti:sapphire crystal in an ultrafast laser photographed with a beercan pinhole camera. Klaas Wynne, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, U.K.
Liquid microlens array formation on lithium niobate crystal surface wetability is controlled by pyroelectric effect. Pietro Ferraro, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica Applicata (INOA), Pozzuoli (Napoli), Italy