Explore Nature

5. Golden Rock (Burma)

Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, also known as Golden Rock, is a famous Buddhist pilgrimage site in Mon State, Burma. A small pagoda (5.5 m – 18 ft) sits on top of the “golden rock,” a granite boulder covered with gold leaves pasted on by devotees. The rock itself is precariously perched and seems to defy gravity as it perpetually appears to be on the verge of rolling down the hill.
4. Delicate Arch (Utah, USA)


A world famous arch located in Arches National Park (Utah, USA), the Delicate Arch is a mysterious lone-standing arch that has become a symbol of the state.
3. Stone Tree (Bolivia)

A stone sculpted by wind and sand, the “Stone Tree” is located high on the Bolivian Altiplano, one of the world’s most beautiful landscapes. (Link | Photo)
2. Mushroom Rock (Egypt)

This is one of the world’s most famous mushroom rocks, located in Egypt. Also called “rock pedestals,” they are one of the most striking manifestations of the processes of erosion and weathering. Usually found in desert areas, they are formed over thousands of years when erosion of an isolated rocky outcrop progresses at a different rate at its bottom than at its top.
1. The Wave (Arizona, USA)

This spectacular sandstone formation called “The Wave” is located on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes, Arizona. The formation can be reached by hiking approximately 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) across rugged, trail less landscape, making the round-trip to and from The Wave a nearly 6-mile (9.7-kilometer) hike that climbs about 350 feet (107 meters) in altitude.
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5. Welwitschia mirabilis: World’s Most Resistant Plant

It’s not pretty to look at, but Namibia’s plant Welwitschia Mirabilis can truly claim to be one of a kind. There really is nothing like it. Welwitschia plant consists of only two leaves and a sturdy stem with roots. That’s all! Two leaves continue to grow until they resemble the shaggy mane of some sci-fi alien. The stem thickens, rather than gains in height, and can grow to be almost 2 meters high and 8 meters wide. Their estimated lifespan is 400 to 1500 years. It can survive up to five years with no rain. The plant is said to be very tasty either raw or baked in hot ashes, and this is how it got its other name, Onyanga, which means onion of the desert.

4. Dionaea muscipula: the Venus Fly Trap

The Venus Fly Trap is the most famous of all carnivorous plants due to the active and efficient nature of its unique traps. It may be famous, but it’s also threatened. The plant’s two hinged leaves are covered in ultra sensitive fine hairs that detect the presence of everything from ants to arachnids. Trigger the hairs and snap! The trap will shut in less than a second.
3. Rafflesia arnoldii: World’s Largest Flower

There is one exotic and rare plant you wouldn’t likely want to grow anywhere near your landscape no matter how famous it would make you for doing so. That would be growing the largest flower in the world. This exotic, very rare, speckled, though not particularly pretty, rust colored flower is called Rafflesia Arnoldii.
Rafflesia Arnoldii, recently assigned to the Euphorbiaceae family, is the biggest individually produced flower in the world. It gets to be 3 feet across and weighing a whopping 15- 24 pounds. That’s pretty darn big but still you would not like this flower in your perennial bed. Why is that? If you could mimic a rainforest type environment for this plant, it gives off a most offensive odor when in bloom. This scent is somewhat like rotting meat. This is why it is often called the Corpse Plant by some natives of Indonesia where it originates.
Its blossoms only last three days to a week. But in those few days it needs a miracle or two just for survival. This hideous smell it produces attracts pollinating insects to it to help perpetuate the species. But even when this happens only 10-20 percent of the tiny seedlings make it. With any luck in nine months it blooms.
2. Desmodium gyrans: the Dancing Plant

Darwin called the plant Hedysarum; modern botanists call it either Desmodium Gyrans, or more correctly these days, Codariocalyx Motorius. Its common name is Dancing Grass or Telegraph Plant or Semaphore Plant — after the leaf movements, which resemble semaphore signals. For all of its uses this plant is easy to grow, dancing happily on a sunny windowsill and watered when dry. Some say it dances best to the “Greatful Dead!”
1. Euphorbia obesa: the Baseball Plant

Euphorbia Obesa, also known as the Baseball Plant, is endemic to the Great Karoo region of South Africa. Unsustainable harvesting by plant collectors who value Euphorbia obesa for its interesting and curious appearance has severely impacted wild populations. Consequently, national and international legislation have been enacted to protect remaining populations. While Euphorbia obesa remains endangered in its native habitat, it has become very common in cultivation. By growing large numbers of Euphorbia obesa, nurseries and botanical gardens have been working to ensure that specimens being traded and sold among plant collectors are not obtained from the wild.
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via vikaspb

5. Frozen Waterfalls

The growth of a frozen waterfall can proceed only gradually, for progressive freezing of the flowing water. There are thousands of frozen falls around the world. The one located at Beijing’s Myun County attracts tourists from all over the country as well as internationally. A beautiful display of nature’s art at work.
4. Ice Caves


Ice caves are a type of natural cave that contain significant amounts of ice. At least a portion of the cave must have a temperature below 0 °C (32 °F) all year round, and water must have traveled into the cave’s cold zone. There are many ice caves throughout the world, but the Eisriesenwelt Ice Caves in Austria are some of the largest known to man.
3. Ice Circles



A rare phenomenon usually only seen in extremely cold countries, scientists generally accept that Ice Circles are formed when surface ice gathers in the center of a body of water rather than the edges. A slow moving river current can create a slow turning eddy, which rotates, forming an ice disc. Very slowly the edges are ground down until a gap is formed between the eddy and the surrounding ice. These ice circles have been seen with diameters of over 500 feet and can also at times be found in clusters and groups at different sizes. (Photo by Brook Tyler)
2. Ice Spikes

These amazing ice spikes, generally known as penitentes due to their resemblance to processions of white-hooded monks, can be found on mountain glaciers and vary in size. As this accelerates, deep troughs are formed, leaving peaks of ice standing between them. Chile is home to the rugged mountain terrain of the Andes, and the severe weather extremes at different altitudes make for some stunning ice formations, like daggers looking ice field.
1. Ice Shelves

Ice takes on all sorts of interesting asymmetrical and geometric shapes, from the icy platelets above to the incredible parallel ice shelves of the Arctic. Ellesmere Island is famous for its ice shelves, but unfortunately they are diminishing rapidly in the face of global warming. Climate change caused alarming losses in summer of 2008, and scientists are concerned that this special ecosystem may soon be lost forever.
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Most amazing waterfalls images are below.

1. Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls are waterfalls of the Iguazu River located on the border of the Brazilian state of Paraná and the Argentine province of Misiones. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. With its brink spanning a distance of an incredible 2km in its average flow of 1.3 million liters per second, this fall is at the top of the list. The falls actually consists of some 275 individual waterfalls and cascades. Catwalks make it easy to get close-up and intimate views and the rainforest surroundings make the scenery feel right for a natural attraction such as this.

2. Victoria Falls

Victoria Fall located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls are also known as Mosi-oa-Tunya, which translates to “the smoke that thunders” in the language of the Kololo Tribe, which were present in the 1800s. David Livingstone, the first European to see the falls, named it in honor of Queen Victoria in 1855. So awestruck was he that he described the falls saying “scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.” It’s the largest singular waterfall in the world spanning a width of 1.7km, a height of 108m, and an average flow of 1 million liters per second.

3. Niagara Falls

The Niagara Falls are voluminous waterfalls on the Niagara River, straddling the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of York. Niagara Falls were formed when glaciers receded at the end of the Wisconsin glaciations (the last ice age), and water from the newly formed Great Lakes carved a path through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean. While not exceptionally high, the Niagara Falls are very wide. More than 6 million cubic feet (168,000 m³) of water falls over the crest line every minute in high flow, and almost 4 million cubic feet (110,000 m³) on average. It is the most powerful waterfall in North America. The Niagara Falls are renowned both for their beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Managing the balance between recreational, commercial, and industrial uses has been a challenge for the stewards of the falls since the 1800s.

4. Angel Falls

Angel Falls is the world’s highest waterfall, with a height of 1,054 m (3,458 ft) and a plunge of 807 m (2,648 ft). It’s the tallest waterfall in the world, drops nearly a kilometer (about 979m total drop with 807m freefall) from a table-top mountain known as Auyantepuy (or Auyantepui meaning “Mountain of the God of Evil” or “Devil’s Mountain”).The height of the fall is so great that before getting anywhere near the ground, much of the water is evaporated or carried away as a fine mist by the strong wind. Its existence seems like a paradox as it’s neither fed by conventional drainage sources such as snow/glacier melt, lakes, nor a major river system. Indeed, the abundance of water responsible for the falls is practically all rainfall from equatorial rainfall condensing onto the cloud forest above plateau of Auyantepui. It’s almost as if the clouds wring its water onto the tepui like a soaked rag.
Angel Falls is also called Salto Ángel or indigenously Kerepakupai-merú. This indigenous name derived from the Pemón natives means “falls from the deepest place”. Ironically, the more famous name of the falls has nothing to do with the connotation that water falls from the heavens. In fact, it just so happened to be the name of aviator Jimmy Angel who in 1937 landed his plane above Auyantepui near the falls in an effort to prove to the world of the existence of the falls (and to search for gold). Given the soggy terrain atop the tepuy, the plane was stuck so he, his wife, and two friends had no choice but to make the difficult trek down from the vertical cliffs of the tepui towards civilization (taking around 11 days). Only after successfully performing that feat did the falls become known to the rest of the world, and eventually the falls were named after him. Jimmy Angel’s plane has since been moved, restored, and on display at the airport in Ciudad Bolívar.

5. Yosemite Falls

6. Kaieteur Falls

Kaieteur Falls is a high-volume waterfall on the Potaro River in central Guyana, Potaro-Siparuni region. Kaieteur Falls is Guyana’s greatest scenic wonder. The Potaro River is said to drop some 221m with a width of nearly 100m (though rainy-season dimensions of 741ft high and 370ft wide are often quoted); so the falls has got world class dimensions. In fact, there are claims that this waterfall is the tallest single-drop waterfall in the world.

7. Gullfoss

Gullfoss (English: Golden Falls) is a waterfall located in the canyon of Hvítá river in southwest Iceland.Gullfoss is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country. The wide Hvítá rushes southward. About a kilometer above the falls it turns sharply to the left and flows down into a wide curved three-step “staircase” and then abruptly plunges in two stages (11 m and 21 m) into a crevice 32 m (105 ft) deep. The crevice, about 20 m (60 ft) wide, and 2.5 km in length, is at right angles to the flow of the river. The average amount of water running over this waterfall is 140m³/s in the summertime and 80m³/s in the wintertime. The highest flood measured was 2000 m³/s.

8. Dettifoss

Dettifoss is a very powerful waterfall on the glacial river Jökulsá á Fjöllum nestled in Iceland’s version of the Grand Canyon – Jökulsárgljúfur. With a flow of about 500 cubic meters per second at high flow, this 44m tall 100m wide monster is quite possibly Europe’s most largest and most powerful waterfall. This milky-colored waterfall is fed by the meltwaters of the vast Vatnajökull glacier. Viewpoints are available on both sides of the falls.

9. Sutherland Falls

The 580 meter high Sutherland Falls is the most impressive of the numerous falls encountered on the Milford Track. It is actually about a 45 minute side hike from the main trail each way, but is worth it. You can walk right up to the base of the falls and feel the power of the wind rushing down, driving the mists outward around the base. It sounds like an airplane, almost, it is so loud.

10. Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River

The lower falls are 308 feet high, or almost twice as high as Niagara. The volume of water is in no way comparable to Niagara as the width of the Yellowstone River before it goes over the lower falls is 70 feet (22 m), whereas Niagara is a half mile (800 m).
sources  world-of-waterfalls wikipedia

5. The Sombrero Galaxy

The Sombrero Galaxy (also known as M104 or NGC 4594) is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo. It has a bright nucleus, an unusually large central bulge, and a prominent dust lane in its inclined disk. The dark dust lane and the bulge give this galaxy the appearance of a sombrero. The galaxy has an apparent magnitude of +9.0, making it easily visible with amateur telescopes. The large bulge, the central supermassive black hole, and the dust lane all attract the attention of professional astronomers.

4. Black Eye Galaxy

A spiral galaxy in the Coma Berenices constellation, Messier 64, the famous “Black Eye” galaxy or the “Sleeping Beauty galaxy,” has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy’s bright nucleus. It is well known among amateur astronomers because of its appearance in small telescopes.
3. 2MASX J00482185-2507365 occulting pair

The 2MASX J00482185-2507365 occulting pair is a pair of overlapping spiral galaxies found in the vicinity of NGC 253, the Sculptor Galaxy. Both galaxies are more distant than NGC 253, with the background galaxy, 2MASX J00482185-2507365, lying at redshift z=0.06, and the foreground galaxy lying between NGC 253 and the background galaxy (0.0008 < z < 0.06). This pair of galaxies illuminates the distribution of galactic dust beyond the visible arms of a spiral galaxy. The heretofore unexpected extent of dust beyond the starry limits of the arms, shows new areas for extragalactic astronomical study. The dusty arms extend 6 times the radii of the starry arms of the galaxy, and is shown silhouetted in HST images against the central and core sections of the background galaxy.
2. The Whirlpool Galaxy

Also known as Messier 51a, M51a, or NGC 5194, the Whirlpool Galaxy is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy located at a distance of approximately 23 million light-years in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is one of the most famous spiral galaxies in the sky. The galaxy and its companion (NGC 5195) are easily observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may even be seen with binoculars. The Whirlpool Galaxy is also a popular target for professional astronomers, who study it to further understanding of galaxy structure (particularly structure associated with the spiral arms) and galaxy interactions.
1. Grand spiral galaxy

Also known as NGC 123, this fascinating galaxy is dominated by millions of bright stars and dark dust, caught up in a gravitational swirl of spiral arms rotating about the center. Open clusters containing bright blue stars can be seen sprinkled along these spiral arms, while dark lanes of dense interstellar dust can be seen sprinkled between them. Less visible, but detectable, are billions of dim normal stars and vast tracts of interstellar gas, together wielding such high mass that they dominate the dynamics of the inner galaxy. Invisible are even greater amounts of matter in a form we don’t yet know – pervasive dark matter needed to explain the motions of the visible in the outer galaxy.
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