ALIENS OR NATURE?
By: Valentina Gomez
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Not so long ago, we witnessed a lunar eclipse, and for days, the only thing we saw on the internet was everything about this phenomenon, since apparently, this doesn’t happen every year. But, what if I told you that on our beloved planet more strange things than an eclipse happen? And even if you are the luckiest person on earth, you might watch those natural phenomena maximum twice in your life.
For instance, in the south of the Earth, right in Antarctica, you can find the “Blood Falls”, which occur because of the iron that the water beneath the surface has picked; it also remains in liquid state thanks to the release of heat, the salt and the microbial life in it. So, why is it difficult to watch this spectacular thing? First of all, the temperatures are very extreme, and the trip is very expensive. But let's say you can survive the freezing temperature, and you have thousands of dollars to pay for your vacation to Antarctica, then the only problem is finding someone who can guide you to the “Blood Falls”, because apparently nobody is offering any kind of tours or even any guidance of this particular feature. However, if you really want to see the phenomenon, become a microbiologist who specializes in extreme microbes.
Another mind-blowing natural phenomenon is the “Sailing Stones” that if real life people hadn’t seen them, I definitely would not believe this because it’s like if it had come out of a sci-fi movie. In Death Valley, California 700-pound rocks move by themselves leaving a trail, as crazy as it sounds it is totally real, and scientist all around the world have tried to explain this weird incident, they have even waited long periods of time trying to watch and explain this. The “Sailing Stones” happen very rarely, but even if they are moving and you are there, you have to be very focused because they move at a really slow speed. So, maybe you’ve been there while the stones were moving, and you didn’t even notice.
Moving on, I want to ask you if you know what happens when it is raining while it is a sunny day. A rainbow, right? But, did you know that there are many kinds of rainbows that exist on Earth? Like the “Monochrome Rainbow” or the “Fire Rainbow”. The first one happens during sunsets or sunrises, the blue and green wavelengths are dispersed out before they reach the water droplets, so to us, the sky appears red. The second one is the rarest one, it all starts with cirrus clouds, those spread-out, wispy looking clouds that you see way up past the regular ones. Even though cirrus clouds are common, fire rainbows are not. This is for the same reason that you only see a regular rainbow under certain circumstances. The light from the sun must hit these particular ice crystals at exactly the right angle or the light will not refract into its colorful components. If you think a normal rainbow is beautiful, now picture one of these passing through your eyes, I bet you will be amused.
Writing about this has made me want to witness all the natural phenomena on Earth before it is too late, I hope you feel the same way and start doing something to take care of our home. This way, your grandchildren will be able to watch the blood falls or even the fire rainbow. There are millions of things you don’t know about the planet, so take care of it and one day you will be able to talk with your grandchildren about these amazing natural phenomena that you were able to see too.
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