Ancient Skies, Ancient Trees, Diamond Nights

April 28, 2019 1:30 PM

See the world’s oldest trees by starlight. "Beth Moon slept under ancient baobabs and waited out the clouds to photograph Earth’s arboreal beauty at night." Catherine Zuckerman (@CatherineZDC) writes about the photography of Beth Moon (previously) for National Geographic.
posted by homunculus (6 comments total)

This ancient baobab tree in Botswana had a circumference of 82 feet and was radio carbon dated at over 1,400 years old, says Moon. It's filled with nests built by sparrow-size birds called Sociable Weavers......

I wonder how long one of those birds lives? It's so cool to think of it spending its short life in that ancient tree.
posted by thelonius at 2:48 PM on April 28, 2019

The photos are great, but I'll be happier when caption writers stop using the "branches reaching for the stars" cliché.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:13 PM on April 28, 2019

Having just been in Moab, I can appreciate the pictures taken at Dead Horse Point State Park. Nice find!
posted by notsnot at 6:00 PM on April 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

So beautiful...
posted by BlueHorse at 8:23 PM on April 28, 2019

What always amazes me is the fact that those stars, that sky is always there, yet hidden from almost all of us by our incessant need to light up the night.
posted by chavenet at 11:13 PM on April 28, 2019 [3 favorites]

There's been some controversy about these photos.
posted by kickingtheground at 11:40 PM on May 9, 2019