A Day of Wonder on our own Planet!

[WCGucfa]

Sometimes things happen really close to home, namely right here on Earth, no telescope or binoculars needed.
These occurances could be sun dogs, aurorae, rainbows or other fascinating surprises...
Take today, for instance. Many moons ago I awoke at 6 a.m. on a super cold morning to image a beautiful
comet in Scorpius. Off the top of my head, I believe it was Comet Swan. No matter, the point being that the
temperature was 4 below zero in my backyard! Wow, it was FREEZING! This was the coldest it had ever been in my
yard. I was impressed.
Well, this morning, January 4, 2014, the temp dropped to 9 degrees below zero. Wow, it was WAY MORE than freezing!!!
I'm sure more than a few of you had a similar experience! I just never thought my backyard's personal low temp record would ever be
broken in so many degrees!
Another, more mysterious thing/discovery happened later in the afternoon.
I was semi-mindlessly trudging through snow drifts in my yard, trying to decide which would give me the best accurate measurement
of total snowfall (small things amuse me to no end) when I came across a strange configuration at my feet which has me baffled!
At first I was going to post it as a "What's This" guessing game, but I sincerely have no idea what it is!
My only guesses are two: A very artistic, compass/protractor wielding bird or squirrel, or a landing of a small flying saucer, like the one in that
old Twilight Zone episode (you know the one; it terrorized that old lady who lived in the middle of nowhere and she took it out with a broom).
The lack of little footprints is a puzzle. The circle is 1 foot in diameter.
I woulld really like a little help with this one!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Bill G.

[Bruce D]

Ant supercollider?

[Paul D]

Probably a mole or a vole that poked its head up in the center then went back under the snow did a search, (Since their eyes are virtually useless they feel with whiskers and fur and have been known to create circles when they are moving about). I have seen these (perfect circles) made by them in sand but that is the first snow one I have ever seen.

Also in the morning my thermometer was registering -11 degrees also when I let my dog out at 2am that morning. All I can say is thank the heavens for global warming, imagine how cold it would have been without it? Hand grenade thrown, duck.

[WCGucfa]

Thanks for the input, Paul.
This could be the solution to the mystery. I still wonder why there are no paw prints.
If the animal popped up in the center, it would still have quite a reach of at least 6" to scribe the perfect circle.
While the circle still existed, I should have dug under it to see if I could find a tunnel. Some strange force
took over my thought processes (not a difficult task) and prevented me from destroying it!
My wife suggests a larger bird, like a Blue Jay, made a quick landing, spun around really fast with his tail just skimming the powdery snow,
and took off again. This is pretty feasible but not as suggestive of a tiny alien landing, so I have to completely dismiss it from the list.
Without a connection to the heavens, this topic would be off topic.

Last winter I found sloppy paths made by mice or voles, just under the snow. I saw the animal but it would dive at super speed,
preventing positive ID.
These were all over the place in squiggly patterns; no uniformity.

Any other ideas on this?

BG

[Apollo XX]

Bill, clearly it is a minimalist impact crater made by a tiny asteroid. You've got all the proper signs, including central depression and peaks, terraced rim, and ejecta piles. The incomplete rim just proves that it was an oblique impact, the direction of which was probably determined by the breath of Hercules. I'd suggest submitting a portfolio of evidence to http://www.realufos.net/ They'll LOVE this!

Mike

[WCGucfa]

@Mike,

Hmmm, I think you're on to something!! Only one thing... the "ejecta piles" and "peaks" were witnessed
falling from the tree branches. Could the field mouse I saw wearing a space suit indicate something?

I'm so glad the setting sun gave me the appropriate lighting to capture this.
Sirius-ly, The right publication would have a field day if they saw the picture!

B.

[mrgizmo65]

Happy New Year, BILL. I must say you have quite a subject for speculation as to it's origins, I am totally stumped a to what logical explanation fits this situation.Something falling from a tree and being blown around by the wind (in a near perfect circle?) A design caused by swirling wind?In any event, I'm glad somebody is paying attentions to the small detais that happen right under our nose.

[NGC7000]

Great puzzle, Bill....great answers, guys...

Could it be a direct hit on a vole by an owl?
Not just any owl, but a wise old owl that enjoys Euclidean Geometry?

A wise old owl, perhaps, that's come to feel the ennui of winter, and entertains himself by drawing with his hovering wings a circle in the snow around his victim,
as one who in the dark of night leaves the mark of Zorro- or a serial killer?

An owl that enjoys leaving people like us asking afterwards- Who? Who who could have done that?

Tom

[Mark G]

My money is on some wind blown chunks of snow (bigger depressions) and a "snow devil" a small wind vortex that blew some of the loose snow chunks in a circle...

[NGC7000]

Mark, your response reminds me of the comment made by those who have some doubts about the current products of Evolution, likening this vortex of random events to a junkyard full of pieces of metal and debris. A hurricane rolls through whipping up all the pieces of junk on the ground and drops out a brand new Rolls Royce as it passes on.