Shadows in the Mist

Again I take you into the Etc... of Optical Illusions Etc... Not everything in this blog is an optical illusion, some of it is frightenly real.

On August 11, 1999 a mysterious black mass swarmed across the surface of the planet. This might be biological in nature if it wasn't for the fact that it moved at almost 2000 kilometers per hour. Could this be extraterrestrial in nature? Is this phenomenon proof that we are being visited from other worlds?

Credit: Mir 27 Crew; Copyright: CNES
source

Explanation: Here is what the Earth looks like during a solar eclipse. The shadow of the Moon can be seen darkening part of Earth. This shadow moved across the Earth at nearly 2000 kilometers per hour. Only observers near the center of the dark circle see a total solar eclipse - others see a partial eclipse where only part of the Sun appears blocked by the Moon. This spectacular picture of the 1999 August 11 solar eclipse was one of the last ever taken from the Mir space station. The two bright spots that appear on the upper left are possibly Jupiter and Saturn, although this has yet to be proven. Mir was deorbited in a controlled re-entry in 2001

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Sci-Art's Inaugural "Site of the Week"

This post is why I have the Etc... in the title of this blog because not everything is an illusion.

Sci-Art, which previously was hosted by this site has moved out on their own and have just selected their first "Site of the Week".

The site they picked wondered what would happen if you combined the video game Pong with the 21st century. The result was Plasma Pong.

Check out the Sci-Art Site of the Week post.

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Magical Illusion or Optical Illusion?

Here we have an apparently green liquid being poured into a clear glass with normal lighting, but in the glass we see red liquid splashing around. Is this a magic trick or is there and optical illusion at play here? Read what the artist says below.

Color Illusion I
Flickr Artist - Catherine Jamieson

The artist that created this image, Catherine said,

"Addicted I am, I tell you, to complementary colors. If you put water in a jug and add green and red food coloring (to the same water, in the same jug) and pour it from one receptacle to another the illusion (light and refraction) is that it is green turning into red. It's really red-green reacting to the light. Cool, huh?"

Aside from Flickr Catherine has an excellent photoblog and had a book released last year titled Create Your Own Photo Blog. On her site she states,

"I honestly do believe everyone with a camera should have their very own photo blog - this is my effort to see if I can help with that. "

Check out her site and say Hi.

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Good Night Sweet Sun Illusion

I love the amazing colors and superb composition of this photo. The silhouette suggests this is a young lady saying good night to the sun, but we can never really be sure can we?

Great work Nicole!

souffler
Flickr Artist: Nicole.
Tags: photos, optical_illusions, illusions, art

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Coke Balancing Illusion

Another Do it Yourself (DIY) optical illusion. Send in your own and you to will see yourself here.

coke balancing
Flickr Artist: kneilp
Tags: photos, optical_illusions, illusions, art

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Nature's Reality is Always Better

Again part of the Etc... in the Blog's title. Not an illusion, but an amazing display by Mother Nature and her creatures.

Can anyone tell me exactly what is taking place in this photo?

explode
Flickr Artist: -amol-
As a side note there was no manipulation of this image.

Tags: photos, nature, illusions, art

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Sunset Optical Illusion

I was surfing the vast wasteland of blogs a couple of weeks back, looking for optical illusions when I came across this sunset. It was included in a post titled Standing 'O'. This was one of those days when those gathered to watch the sunset were rewarded with a beauty.

James writes:

"As the sun slipped below the horizon, something happened that I have yet to experience again. The spectators who had gathered broke into applause."

At this time I pondered what coast this was on? Where was this beautiful sunset experienced?

Standing 'O'
Copyright 2005 James Jordan
Used w/permission

I saw the tall masted ships and thought it might be a inlet on the United States west coast, maybe this was on Florida's west coast?

I have seen similar sunsets from Key west past the piers with the ships tied up. There were many days in Key west when those that gathered to witness the beauty of a sunset broke into applause.

It might not even be in the states... maybe Australia, wait a minute I remember earlier photos on this blog being taken in Bermuda.

At this point I hit the back key on my browser so I could read the post (you see I had enlarged the photo immediately upon coming across it).

I was very surprised when I found out where this was taken. This image presented to me the optical illusion of something that wasn't there, similar to Kanizsa's Triangle optical illusion only instead of seeing a triangle that wasn't there I was envisioning a place/land that was implied even though we don't see it. Reality was different then the wanderings of my mind, beautiful, but different.

The link to this specific post isn't working but go here and scroll down to Tuesday, June 14th for the answer.

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Wooden Foot Bridge Illusion

If you get dizzy easy read the caution above and please be seated when viewing the below image.

This is a great illusion. As you view this image it will seem as if you are at the center of a wooden foot bridge As you scroll down the page it will be as if you bend over and look back between your own legs.

If you only see a narrow image enlarge it so you see the image full scale.

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