Set Sail for the Milky Seas!

Above: Satellite imagery of the "Milky Seas" off the coast of Java in 2019. CSU/CIRA and NOAA/NESDIS
For the very first time, a mysterious oceanic phenomenon has been photographed and documented firsthand. For centuries, sailors across the world have reported seeing long stretches of glowing water, inspiring maritime legends and folklore. For sailors far from home, the effect must have been incredibly amazing and perhaps even frighteningly bizarre. Today though, we know quite a bit more about how the waves get their glow.
Dubbed “milky seas,” the phenomenon is caused by bioluminescent bacteria emanating a radiant blue light, sometimes for tens of thousands of square miles. These patches of oceanic light had been previously observed with the aid of satellite technology, but now we have a firsthand picture of these milky seas.
The photos were taken aboard a sailboat off the coast of Java in 2019; as the sun set, the crew found themselves in the midst of a milky sea the size of Iceland. The photos from aboard the ship are of low quality, but even in the darkness you can clearly make out glowing white waves beyond the deck of the ship.

On the other side of the planet, Steven Miller, an atmospheric scientist dedicated to studying milky seas, used satellite imagery to identify this patch of ocean near Java as a potential occurrence of the phenomenon, but any further evidence. After publishing his findings though, he was contacted by a crewmember of the sailboat and received the images to support his findings.
This was the key to identifying the first images of this extremely rare ocean phenomenon. It's thought that a milky sea only occurs once or twice a year as bioluminescent plankton produce strange white light on the waves. The ocean, of course, is a pretty big place, which means you have to be in just the right place at just the right time to get a chance to witness it!
Featured Product
Boeing 747 - EI-BED Horizontal Stabilizer
Cool Things!

Organic Glass Found Among Remains of Roman Guard
One of the most dramatic events in the history of the Roman Empire was the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. It is unknown how many perished during the eruption and its fallout, however, haunting images of contorted Pompeiians frozen in time by searing gas and ash paints an image of hellish, alien conditions. In a bizarre twist of the otherworldly occurrence, scientists have found the only documented instance of a victim whose brain was turned to glass by flows from the eruption.

The Mysterious Origin of the St. Mark's Square Lion!
Keeping a watchful eye over what Napoleon knew as “the drawing room of Europe,” the winged lion of St. Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy, is a majestic sight. The origin of this iconic statue has been cloaked in mystery, but in September of 2024, a group of chemists, archaeologists, geologists, and art historians shed more light on this sculpture’s story.

The Hun Family Tree
Specimen Deep Dives

Returning to the Moon: The Apollo 14 Mission

The Secrets of the Space Shuttle: Learn about Mini Museum's Shuttle Tile Material!

Gondwana: When the Earth Was One
Long Form Articles

The Top 5 Most Expensive Star Wars Collectibles Ever Sold
When Star Wars debuted in theaters on May 25th, 1977, it launched an international phenomenon spanning decades of film history. Today, the series has had countless spinoffs, tv shows, books, and merchandising emblazoned with its characters and symbols, for which fans are ready to part with a pretty penny. Here are the top 5 most expensive Star Wars memorabilia items ever sold.

The Biggest Dinosaurs to Walk The Earth
For 165 million years across the Mesozoic Era, dinosaurs reached incredible, towering sizes, but curiously the evidence suggests the largest came at the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. This may seem ironic. After all, larger animals have smaller populations and require more food, thus making them susceptible to environmental stresses. On the flip side, if a large animal is able to survive a mass die-off, their genetic predisposition to a large size will quickly spread in a reduced population. This is what we see in the Late Cretaceous: dinosaurs of many different clades reaching their apex.

The Largest Meteorites Ever Discovered on Earth
Meteorites have fascinated humans since we first started looking up into the night sky. Since then, our ability to track and study them has greatly improved, but the fascination remains. Here is a countdown of the 5 largest meteorites ever found!