What the Heck Is This?

Probably won't be too hard to figure out what this is, in general. But can you guess specifically what you're looking at?

No hints on this one.

Continue to see the full image and an explanation …

It's not cotton. It's a view of cumulus clouds in the late afternoon, viewed from an airplane that's above the clouds.

You don't have to be a meteorologist to glean something from the clouds. On our sister site OurAmazingPlanet there's an article on how to read clouds and a cool cloud-reading gallery to go with it.

Puffy cumulus illuminated by late afternoon sun far below a NOAA airplane returning to base at after a mission. NOAA flies hurricanes to learn more about how one storm is shaping up and to learn more about the storms in general. (Image credit: NOAA)

Got a strange or interesting photo related to science, nature or technology? What the Heck, send it to me, and maybe I'll use it.

Robert is an independent health and science journalist and writer based in Phoenix, Arizona. He is a former editor-in-chief of Live Science with over 20 years of experience as a reporter and editor. He has worked on websites such as Space.com and Tom's Guide, and is a contributor on Medium, covering how we age and how to optimize the mind and body through time. He has a journalism degree from Humboldt State University in California.