APOD: Mammatus Clouds over Mount Rushmore (2020 Dec 07)

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APOD: Mammatus Clouds over Mount Rushmore (2020 Dec 07)

Post by APOD Robot » Mon Dec 07, 2020 5:05 am

Image Mammatus Clouds over Mount Rushmore

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.

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XgeoX
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Re: APOD: Mammatus Clouds over Mount Rushmore (2020 Dec 07)

Post by XgeoX » Mon Dec 07, 2020 10:39 am

Nice weather photo of the day.
Ego vigilate
Ego audire

heehaw

Re: APOD: Mammatus Clouds over Mount Rushmore (2020 Dec 07)

Post by heehaw » Mon Dec 07, 2020 11:34 am

XgeoX wrote: Mon Dec 07, 2020 10:39 am Nice weather photo of the day.
Nice third-planet-from-the-Sun photo of the day!

Tszabeau

Re: APOD: Mammatus Clouds over Mount Rushmore (2020 Dec 07)

Post by Tszabeau » Mon Dec 07, 2020 1:06 pm

Santa’s beard.

KNOWLEGEABLE ED

Re: APOD: Mammatus Clouds over Mount Rushmore (2020 Dec 07)

Post by KNOWLEGEABLE ED » Mon Dec 07, 2020 1:45 pm

Not sure what this has to do with astronomy. Nice pic but not really astro related.

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Re: APOD: Mammatus Clouds over Mount Rushmore (2020 Dec 07)

Post by orin stepanek » Mon Dec 07, 2020 2:07 pm

MammatusRushmore_Mattuzzi_960.jpg

Mammatus clouds are usually quite interesting to me; very nice photo!
What is the structure below the presidents? :?:
Orin

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Re: APOD: Mammatus Clouds over Mount Rushmore (2020 Dec 07)

Post by neufer » Mon Dec 07, 2020 3:01 pm

Art Neuendorffer

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Re: APOD: Mammatus Clouds over Mount Rushmore (2020 Dec 07)

Post by rstevenson » Mon Dec 07, 2020 5:05 pm

I liked it better before the 3D graffiti...
E63F9995-3AA3-498D-B2C4-AD6B54E543B0.jpeg
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Re: APOD: Mammatus Clouds over Mount Rushmore (2020 Dec 07)

Post by Whiskybreath » Mon Dec 07, 2020 6:13 pm

So that's what theyr'e called! I saw a tremendous example once, on the plain to the South of Kilimanjaro; from horizon to horizon, the cloud seemed to be boiling in cells - seen from beneath. It was quite scary, in fact, as I doubt that anyone who saw it would have known what was going on (except perhaps the meteorologists at Kilimanjaro Airport).

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