‘Berlin Brutal’: the uncompromising architecture of mid 20th century Berlin captured by Felix Torkar.
From top: Institut für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie, Fehling+Gogel, 1966–74; Isothermische Kugellabore, Horst Welser, 1959-6;Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedä chtniskirche, Egon Eiermann, 1957–61; Kirche Mariä Himmelfahrt (heute: Mor-Afrem-Kirche), Alfons Boklage, 1964–66 and St. Agnes, Werner Düttmann, 1965–67.
Clyde Lane, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
Guerilla art or a fixture on the car?
We may never know.
(Pix: Oisín Kane)
What’s this curious little Mars-like planet? Well, it’s not Mars, but that’s there too. To wit:
In a digitally stitched little planet projection, the 360 degree mosaic was captured near San Pedro in the Chilean Atacama desert. Telescopes in domes on the horizon are taking advantage of the arid region’s famously dark, clear nights. Taken in early December, a magnificent Milky Way arcs above the horizon for almost 180 degrees around the little planet with Orion prominent in the southern sky. A familiar constellation upside down for northern hemisphere skygazers, Orion shares that southern December night almost opposite the Large and Small Magellanic clouds. But the Red Planet itself is the brightest yellowish celestial beacon in this little planet sky.
(Image: Robert Barsa)
A leaky, ice encrusted but still partially inhabited residential building at the village of Severny in the suburbs of Vorkuta captured by Russian photographer Maria Passer.
The temperature outside regularly drops to minus 40°C but it’s probably cosier than staying in.
Millions of fireflies making whoopee in a dense Japanese bamboo forest during the 2019 mating season, captured by Russian photographer Daniel Kordan, who sez of the sexy swarm, in which males produce flashes of light and females respond in kind:
Fireflies are very sensitive. They need clean water nearby, warm humid air (but not rain), and no lights. Not a single photo can show how beautiful it is—shimmering and blinking forest full of little stars.
Kordan shares more about his process here.
Behold: a rather beautiful visual coincidence: the dark branches of a tree and the light of a distant aurora. To wit:
The beauty of the aurora — combined with how it seemed to mimic a tree right nearby — mesmerized the photographer to such a degree that he momentarily forgot to take pictures. When viewed at the right angle, it seemed that this tree had aurora for leaves. Fortunately, before the aurora morphed into a different overall shape, he came to his senses and capture the awe-inspiring momentary coincidence. Typically triggered by solar explosions, aurora are caused by high energy electrons impacting the Earth’s atmosphere around 150 kilometers up. The unusual Earth-sky collaboration was witnessed in March of 2017 in Iceland.
(Image: Alyn Wallace)
Rob Cross tweets:
My restored and colourised c1890s Robert French photo of High Street in Graiguenamanagh “Gráig na Manach” (village of the monks) which is located on the River Barrow in County Kilkenny.
Behold: what could be a very nice ad for what looks like a VW Tiguan, but isn’t. To wit:
Assembled in a 360 degree panoramic projection, the mosaicked frames were captured at January’s end along a quiet country road near Siemiony, northeastern Poland, planet Earth. The night was cold and between trees reaching toward the sky shine the stars and nebulae of the northern winter Milky Way. Near zenith is bright star Capella, a mere 43 light-years above the tree tops. Alpha star of the constellation Auriga the Charioteer and part of the winter hexagon asterism, Capella is a well-studied double star system. Follow the Milky Way above and right of Capella and you might spot the familiar stars of Orion in the northern winter night.
