*** Mini-Challenge #701 Not of this Earth (maybe?) ***

This weeks challenge is to showcase what you found unusual and seemingly "alien" -- even if only momentarily. For example, unusual clouds or other atmospheric phenomena, objects from beyond the earth (moon, planets, stars), things that were so out of context as to seem unearthly and so forth. We want to see what you've captured that (at first glance, at least) seem "beyond" ordinary everyday life.

A few examples will be in a subsequent post.

This challenge will end on Friday, June 17, 2022 at 11pm Eastern Time (10pm CT / 9pm MT / 8pm PT).

Challenge Rules:

The host gives you a topic and you post up to three images that fit. Remember, it's all about fun, sharing, and learning. Any picture you have taken in person is eligible, regardless of the time taken, camera, or post-processing used. The host chooses the winners and honourable mentions and posts those in a new thread. The host's decision is final. The winner of this challenge then hosts the next challenge, judges the winner of that one, and so on it goes. The winner of this challenge will have 48 hours to post the next challenge. If that doesn't happen, 2nd place will have 24 hours to do so, then it's up to 3rd place.

Submission Posting Guidelines:

Post each one of your three submissions in its own reply to this post. Give each post a unique Subject, please. It is best to embed an image in its post rather than linking to somewhere else. Feel free to post photos "for exhibition only" if you want to share more than three, or won't be available to host the next challenge. Try to preserve the EXIF please, so we can see which camera, lens, and settings were used.

Comment Posting Guidelines:

Feel free to post comments on the images or ask for comments. Don't hesitate to click on the green "Like" thumb on the top right of the post, so we know which images were most popular. Likes are appreciated as much as constructive criticism is. The host can make up his or her own mind without being influenced by that. I wish you all "good luck" and let's see some interesting pics.

Recent Mini-Challenges:

700: Nostalgia - Your Early Digital Camera Pictures

699: Picture of a Picture

698: Happy Faces

697: Music

696: Birds

695: Nature

694: Boats

693: Metal

692: There's "nothing" to shoot!

691: Favourites

690: Nostalgia

689: Winter

688: Travel/Vacation

687: Festive Lights

686: Animals

685: Plants

684: Night Scenes

683: Small machines (for work and leisure)

682: Autumn

681: Wabi-Sabi

680: Landscapes

679: One Dominant Color

678: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

677: Chocolate

676: Amusement ride

675: One lone flower

674: Food and/or Drink

673: The Road Less Traveled

672: Trees in Nature

671: Waterfalls

670: Mountains

669: Not Your Best Work

668: Speed

667: Round, or nearly round

666: Awakening of Spring

Examples

The Moon, definitely not of the Earth

Lunar halo - "Moonbow"

A (not so) distant nighttime wildfire in southwest Texas over the horizon (other red lights are nearby artificial sources) . It really looked weird from my viewpoint.

On the Earth, but looking heaven-ward - Two domes at the George Observatory in Brazos Bend State Park, near Houston, Texas

Very unusual clouds over a hill near Fort Davis, Texas

The trees across the street had a "cloud topping"!!

A long-exposure nighttime shot in the Davis Mountains, Texas. Note the stars and headlights on the highway.

Heavy weather comin'! Those clouds were other-worldly.

Monday the 13th. Taken a few years ago, this one illustrates my stressed-out mood at the moment.

Sometimes technique can produce alien-looking results.

The August, 2017 solar eclipse taken by cellphone held over the eyepiece of a telescope. The eclipse was only partial where I live.

Actually I had intended to offer a "sun is down" challenge only for shots taken when the sun was notabove the horizon, but I noticed at the last minute that we've already had a night photos challenge, so ...

I always wondered if these three military jets were ordered to come to a new heading, or if  they saw something in the sky they were trying to avoid.

Steve Thomas

stevet1 wrote:

I always wondered if these three military jets were ordered to come to a new heading, or if they saw something in the sky they were trying to avoid.

Steve Thomas

I suspect most of the time they're following a pre-defined course that includes turns, ascents, descents, etc. I know commercial aircraft follow specific routes - It's never entirely direct "Point A to Point B".

This should be interesting !  Great theme.

Now to see what I have to offer.

Don

Called Glory of the Pilot or Pilot’s Halo, at about 10,000’ on approach into Salt Lake City, UT.

A sunrise inverted shadow of a mountain cast on Cirrus clouds. Mt. McLoughlin, in Oregon, at 9,500’ in elevation and 110 miles from my location at the time.

A Sun Halo at high noon. A C-130 on approach to March Air Reserve Base in Moreno Valley, CA

Don't have much to offer on this MC unfortunately, but here are a couple.

Outside the Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory

Moss covered lava feild in Iceland

Good entries so far - Keep 'em coming! 

And just a reminder that the challenge ends in about two days on Friday at 10 PM Central US time. Let's see your weird stuff! 

rjgjr wrote:

rigr,

You take nice pictures, but that one's a heck of a nice shot.

Steve Thomas

rjgjr wrote:

Really cool shots!

Thanks Steve, luckily I live about 120 miles s/e of the SpaceX launch sites at Vandenberg AFB. Lately though seems like all the launches have been in the daylight hours.

Thanks Len. It’s always a lot of fun going back and looking at these remembering when I took them.

On display at the Cosmosphere in Hutchison, Kansas.

Cosmosphere, Hutchinson Kansas. Maybe not quite on topic, but the ride this thing took was certainly unearthly.

Supermoon