After six years, 4,200 hours of shooting, and 720,000 pictures, wildlife photographer Alan McFadyen finally managed to take a perfect shot of a kingfisher diving into the water with no splash.

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octopushugs reblogged

coolthingoftheday

TOP TEN MOST UNIQUE PLANETS IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE

Please note that I have included the descriptions of the planets on the pictures, so that you don’t have to keep scrolling up and down. All you have to do is click on them to read the description.

1. J1407b - Although it physically resembles Saturn, J1407b is much smaller than Saturn is, and has a much larger ring system.

2. TrEs-2b - Also known as the Dark Planet, TrEs-2b is officially the darkest planet in the known universe. It reflects less than 1% of light, and they say that it is so dark that even coal seems brighter than it.

3. 55 Cancri E - Also known as the Planet of Diamonds, at twice the size of Earth 55 Cancri E is so dense and carbon-heavy that the carbon has been compressed into a diamond.

4. Gliese 436b - Although the planet is similar in size to Neptune, it is too dense to be composed largely of hydrogen (as most gas giants are). Scientists believe that instead it is made up of a large concentrate of hot water ice (also known as “Ice-x”).

5. WASP-12b - This planet rotates so close to its parent star that it only has about another ten million years before it’s completely devoured.

6. Titan - This one isn’t a planet; it isn’t even outside of our Solar System. Titan is the largest moon that orbits Saturn, and is the only place outside of Earth where clear evidence of liquid has been found. The difference is that while the liquid on Earth is mostly composed of water, the liquid on Titan is actually methane.

7. Gliese 1214b - Scientists have nicknamed this planet ‘Waterworld’ due to it being the most likely contender outside of our Solar System to contain liquid water.

8. TrES-4b - Aside from WASP-12b, TrES-4b is one of the largest exoplanets ever found - this is a size comparison of TrES-4b to Jupiter.

9. HD 188753 - Also known as “Hot Jupiter”, this exoplanet is so hot and so large that it has actually challenged the currently accepted theory of gas planet formation. According to prevailing scientific theories, a gas planet this hot should not be able to exist.

10. HD 189733b - A gas giant with a daytime temperature of about 2,000 degrees Farenheit (1093 C), according to NASA, HD 189733b rains liquid glass sideways amid 4,500 mph winds.

Space is cool. Please let us find prothean ruins on mars. I want to explore space before i get too old to move from a wheel chair

coolthingoftheday

I’m super excited about the subterranean ocean that they found on Enceladus, too. It’s believed that there may be life found in its oceans because of how similar it is to Earth’s oceans. I have a massive lady boner for Enceladus.

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