APOD: 2020 April 13 - A Sailing Stone across Death Valley

Awesome - new to me. Thanks and good morning Bill.

Thank you my friend Maj William W. 'Bill' Price for posting the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for Monday, April 13, 2020 entitled "A Sailing Stone across Death Valley."
Image: A Sailing Stone across Death Valley - Image Credit - Keith Burke
"Explanation: How did this big rock end up on this strange terrain? One of the more unusual places here on Earth occurs inside Death Valley, California, USA. There a dried lakebed named Racetrack Playa exists that is almost perfectly flat, with the odd exception of some very large stones, one of which is pictured here in April of 2019 beneath a dark, Milky-Way filled sky. Now the flatness and texture of large playa like Racetrack are fascinating but not scientifically puzzling -- they are caused by mud flowing, drying, and cracking after a heavy rain. Only recently, however, has a viable scientific hypothesis been given to explain how heavy sailing stones end up near the middle of such a large flat surface. Unfortunately, as frequently happens in science, a seemingly surreal problem ends up having a relatively mundane solution. It turns out that in winter thin ice sheets form, and winds push ice sections laden with even heavy rocks across the temporarily slick playa when sunlight melts the ice."



Prairie Schooner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xfzxvUpelA

FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen LTC (Join to see) Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SGT Jim Arnold Maj Robert Thornton SPC Douglas Bolton Cynthia Croft SSgt Boyd Herrst TSgt Joe C. SP5 Mark Kuzinski CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SSG William Jones PO3 Craig Phillips PVT Mark Zehner SSG Robert Burns SPC Richard (Rick) Henry

Great post Maj William W. 'Bill' Price I had no idea!