WTF_Nature

Fire Tornado with hundreds of tumbleweeds.



Interestingly enough, the classic tumbleweed isn't even an American native - it's an invasive Russian plant, first described from Australia. But the tumbleweed method of dispersing its seeds is shared by many plants.

That said, what could possibly make this video more awesome? How about radioactive tumbleweeds?

A composite post I've been thinking about for a while, and finally got off my asteroid to assemble.

Most recently - the discovery that the centaur (icy asteroids orbiting out past Saturn) Chariklo not only has two rings, but most likely a moon.

And the asteroid that sprouted six tails, each pointing in a different direction.



Astronomers think light pressure spun it faster and faster - the so-called YORP Effect - until after millions of years it's now spinning fast enough that loose gravel is being flung out into space. It may is be the way small rubble-pile asteroids die. See this swarm, discovered in September. It's currently gracefully flying apart.

And off course the bizarre debris from a deep-space collision back in 2010



Quite a few asteroids are oddly shaped, as well. eg: Astronomers Bounce Radar Off Monster Space Peanut