No, we’re not on Mars.

These barchan (barkhan) sand dunes formed on the beach when a strong and steady wind blew for a weeks, coming from just one direction.

The barchans travelled 3 meters per day and after a night without wind, a thin layer of sublimated water ice formed on the surface.

Some folklorists think that the “Yellow Brick Road” leading to the Land of Oz was inspired by reflection of light from the rising Moon over Lake Michigan, as seen from the Chicago waterfront.

As night falls in the forest, stars draw circles of light around the North Star.

Rosy fingered Maram beachgrass at dusk.

Timelapse of Noctilucent Clouds (NLC)
at dawn, reflecting sunlight near a height of 80 km (50 miles).

These night-shining clouds only appear when this part of the high atmosphere - the upper mesosphere - gets cold enough to form tiny crystals of water ice.

Tide still coming in at nightfall, no wind.

Empty space isn’t empty at all.
Quantum Physics shows that even a pure vacuum fluctuates with tiny amounts of energy or virtual particles moving in and out of existence.

As a creative experiment, we made a conceptual simulation of a sea of virtual particles near a depth of the Planck length.

Timelapse of Maram beachgrass (Ammophila) during stormy weather.

You find Maram grass on coastal dunes where it catches wind blown sand and keeps the dunes intact as the roots of the plant go meters deep.

Though the moon only rises once a day, the tide comes in twice per day.

It’s an enigma that took over two thousand years to explain after ancient Greek scientists started wondering about it.

One hour later.