Why no astro-photography post?
Suddenly an art competition came up and my friend made sure I did participate with the required two entries of my choice. A nice suggestion too as they know about my love for nature and night-sky.
Entry 1:
Monarch butterfly:
Butterflies are my all time entertainers. Monarchs face numerous threats currently due to the liberal use of pesticides, to habitat loss and fragmentation. And without intervention, they are at risk of going extinct. While monarchs have declined in west by 99% since the 1980s, eastern monarchs have declined by over 80% in the same time period.
Entry 2:
The volcanic planet Venus:
Venus has more volcanoes than any other planet in the solar system. Over 1600 major volcanoes or volcanic features are known.
There is no water on the surface of Venus. Indeed, there is almost no water in the air, either. Due to the high atmospheric pressure, the winds on Venus are also relatively slow. Thus, neither wind nor rain can really affect the surface on Venus. As a result, volcanic features will look freshly formed for a long time.
Venus shows no evidence for plate tectonics. There are no long, linear volcano chains. There are no clear subduction zones. Although rifts are common, none look like the mid-ocean ridges on Earth. Also, continent-like regions are rare, and show none of the jigsaw fits seen on Earth. Thus, where volcanism on Earth mostly marks plate boundaries and plate movements, volcanism on Venus is much more regional and much less organized. Almost all volcanism on Venus seems to involve fluid lava flows. There is no sign of explosive, ash-forming eruptions on Venus, and little evidence for the eruption of sludgy, viscous lavas.
It was fun painting both of these :-) As promised before will continue the Nakshatra series from tomorrow. :-)
