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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Трубчатые облака над горой Рашмор http://www.variable-stars.ru/db/msg/1710016/eng |
Credit & Copyright: Laure Mattuzzi
Explanation:
What's that below those strange clouds?
Presidents.
If you look closely, you may recognize the heads of
four
former
US
Presidents
carved into famous
Mount Rushmore in
South Dakota,
USA.
More obvious in the
featured image
are the unusual
mammatus clouds
that passed briefly overhead.
Both were captured together by a
surprised tourist with a quick camera in early September.
Unlike normal flat-bottomed clouds which form when moist and calm air plateaus rise and cool,
bumpy
mammatus clouds form as icy and turbulent air pockets
sink and heat up.
Such turbulent air is frequently accompanied by a thunderstorm.
Each mammatus lobe spans about one kilometer.
The greater mountain is known to
native
Lakota Sioux as
Six Grandfathers, deities responsible for the directions north, south, east,
west, up, and down.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.