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When you see a snowy owl, it’s clear how the bird probably got its name: they’re snow-white. Common name is Snowy owl and the scientific name is Bubo scandiaca. Almost, snowy owl life span is 9 years.  Males are generally whiter than females. As males grow older, they get whiter. The females never become completely white—remaining brownish with darker markings. Snowy owls have excellent eyesight, but they obviously can’t see their prey when it’s underneath snow or a thick layer of plants. To capture those meals, the owl relies on its other keen sense: hearing. These large owls mainly live in the Arctic in open, treeless areas called tundra. Snowy owls perch on the ground or on short posts. From there they patiently watch for prey. Their favorite target is lemmings – small mouse like rodents –but they also hunt for other small rodents, rabbits, birds, and fish. In flight, snowy owls generally cruise low to the ground. Once they spot their prey, they approach it from the

A Total Eclipse at the End of the World Would you go to end of the world to see a total eclipse of the Sun? If you did, would you be surprised to find someone else there already? In 2003,the Sun, the moon, Antarctica , and two photographers all lined up in Antarctic during and unusual total solar eclipse. Even given the extreme location, a group of enthusiastic eclipse chasers ventured near the bottom of the world to experience the surreal momentary disappearance of the Sun behind the Moon. One of the treasures collected was the featured picture – a composite of four separate images digitally combined to realistically simulate how the adaptive human eye saw the eclipse. As the image was taken, both the Moon and the Sun peeked together over an Antarctic ridge. In the sudden darkness, the magnificent corona of the Sun became visible around the Moon. Quite by accident, another photographer was caught in one of the images checking his video camera. Visible to his left are an

A Sagittarius Triplet These Three bright nebulae are often featured o telescopic tours of the constellation Sagittarius and the crowded star fields of the central Milky Way . In fact, 18 th century cosmic tourist Charles Messer cataloged two of them; M8, the large nebula above and left of center, and colorful M20 near the bottom of the frame. The third emission region includes NGC 6559 , right of M8 and separated from the larger nebula by a dark dust lane. All three are stellar nurseries about five thousand light –years or so distant. Over a hundred light-years across the expansive M8 is also known as the lagoon Nebula. M20’s popular moniker is the Trepid. Glowing hydrogen gas creates the dominant red color of the emission nebulae. In striking contrast, blue hues in the Trifid are due to dust reflected starlight. The colorful composite skyscape was recorded with two different telescopes to capture a wide field image of the area and individual close-ups at higher resolutio

Chasing solar eclipse can cause you to the most interesting places and meet the most interesting people. Almost, For example,  chasing this eclipse brought this astrophotographer to  Kenya in 2013. His contact, member of the Maasai people, was to pick him up at the airport, show him part southern Kenya, and ever agreed to pose in traditional warrior garb on a hill as the hopefully spectacular eclipse set far in background. Unfortunately, this contact person died unexpectedly a week before