beautiful

This picture was taken at Horsetail Fall in Yosemite National Park. Apparently this happens every year but it's hard to catch a picture at just the right moment. Photographer Sangeeta Dey explained this on a post about her own picture on Facebook:

Every year for two weeks in February, the sun sets at a certain angle and illuminates the waterfall in luminescent orange and red, making it look like a fluid fire. I’ve met photographers who said that they have been coming for 11 years only to see this happen 2 or 3 times.

via Sangeeta Dey

Congrats to Mas Sumbramanian and his team out at Oregon State University for the discovery! He said the following in an official OSU press release:

"It was serendipity, actually; a happy, accidental discovery.

The basic crystal structure we’re using for these pigments was known before, but no one had ever considered using it for any commercial purpose, including pigments.

Ever since the early Egyptians developed some of the first blue pigments, the pigment industry has been struggling to address problems with safety, toxicity and durability."