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Restormel城堡上空的秋雾，英国康沃尔 Autumn mist above Restormel Castle in Cornwall, England (© Robert Harding/Alamy)

The circular castle of Cornwall

Many generations watched fog roll over this countryside long before the bellicose Norman visitors who built this fortress got the chance. The peninsula of Cornwall has been populated since the Mesolithic period 10,000 years ago, and is one of the traditional Celtic nations—areas of the British Isles and France where the Celts' culture survived Roman, Norman, and other outside influences despite repeated attempts at incursion.

Restormel Castle is one of the best-preserved keeps of its era in the UK, and also stands apart for its rare rotund shape. Built by the conquering Normans in the wake of their 1066 invasion of Britain, it was fortified as a perfect stone circle a hundred years later. Soon it was renovated into a luxurious palace with rudimentary plumbing and coveted hunting grounds. But after centuries of off-and-on use, it fell into disrepair after the English Civil War ended in 1651. It was acquired by the British government in the early 20th century. Open to the public, Restormel is now managed by the English Heritage charity trust.

运城盐湖，中国山西 Yuncheng Salt Lake in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province, China (© Xinhua/Alamy)

Water colors

The Salt Lake in Yuncheng, China, has such a high salinity, it's sometimes called China's Dead Sea. But unlike the Dead Sea in the Middle East, Yuncheng's Salt Lake supports abundant microscopic life: algae and other microorganisms that have a high tolerance for the salt. In autumn, the lake temperature is high enough to spark algae blooms, bringing a variety of intense colors to the lake water.

Stranger still, during the cold, dry winter, the lake level drops, causing some of the sodium content in the water to form mirabilite rime—spiky, ice crystal-like mineral formations that make the lake shore and shallow surfaces look like an ice-covered landscape from science fiction.

栖息在斯诺希尔岛的成年帝企鹅和幼崽，南极 Emperor penguin adults and chicks at the Snow Hill Island rookery, Antarctica (© Martin Ruegner/Getty Images)

Hey, you two in the front!

For World Teachers' Day, we're taking you to a class of emperor penguin chicks getting a lesson from a couple of wise adults—at least that's how it looks to us. All kidding aside, the celebration has a special significance this year. Educators dedicate their lives to engaging the minds of young and old alike, all the while sparking curiosity about the world around us. But with in-person classes widely curtailed due to the coronavirus pandemic, teachers have had to adapt their instruction methods, including the implementation of remote learning. More than ever we're grateful for their efforts, including their support to parents who are contributing at home.

Speaking of remote learning, the penguins in this photo live and learn in Antarctica at their breeding colony on Snow Hill Island. One thing we've learned on this World Teachers' Day: A group of chicks is called a rookery, but when mature, they become a waddle of adult penguins, a term that also describes their graceless walking gait. About that gait: Penguins rock side-to-side to raise their center of gravity and compensate for their wide feet and squat legs. You might think they expend a lot of energy getting around, but the percentage of energy retained per penguin stride—or recovery rate—is 80%. In comparison, the recovery rate for humans is a mere 65% (the two penguin chicks snoozing in today's photo probably already know that).

木星及木卫一的蒙太奇图像 Montage of images of Jupiter and its volcanic moon Io  (© NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Goddard Space Flight Center)

Infrared Jupiter, erupting Io

To celebrate World Space Week, we're featuring this montage of images of Jupiter courtesy of the New Horizons probe's flyby of the planet in 2007. If Jupiter looks a little different than you're used to seeing, it's because it was imaged using the space probe's near-infrared imaging spectrometer. In this false-color image, Jupiter's high-altitude clouds, like its stormy Great Red Spot, are rendered white, while deeper cloud formations take on reddish hues. The planet's innermost moon, Io, is captured in a true-color composite image during one of its frequent volcanic eruptions. A close look will show lava is glowing red beneath the blue and white plume of particles being ejected into the moon's thin atmosphere.

Space Week is a UN-recognized event that runs each year from October 4, which is the anniversary of the launch of Sputnik in 1957, to October 10, the anniversary of the signing of the Outer Space Treaty in 1967. This year's theme is 'Satellites Improve Life.'

从波迪安西之路的洛特谷中望向圣西尔克·拉波皮教堂，法国洛特 (© Reinhard Schmid/Huber/eStock Photo)

Owens River and the Sierra Nevada near Bishop, California (© Interfoto/Danita Delimont)

A wild and scenic scene

Some of our nation's most treasured rivers are protected thanks to a program that was first established on this day in 1968. The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act aims to preserve rivers with 'outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations.' That's something we can get behind. This national system now protects more than 13,000 miles of 226 rivers. They flow through 41 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, from Idaho's Salmon River to the Missouri River in the Midwest to the Allagash River in Maine. Today's homepage visits the Owens River, near the Sierra Nevada in eastern California. About 19 miles of the Owens River headwaters were protected as a Wild and Scenic River in 2009, ensuring we'll see views like this for years to come.

为庆祝中秋而摆放的灯笼，新加坡 Lantern display celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in Singapore (© Khin/Getty Images)

Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival, is a celebration of the autumn harvest observed by the Chinese and other Asian peoples. It falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, the full moon closest to the fall equinox. Originally a plea to the gods for rains to ensure a good harvest next year, Mid-Autumn Festival has become a more secular bit of autumn fun, with children and adults gathering to give thanks, eat sweet mooncakes, and light lanterns like the hand-painted ones we're looking at here from a previous celebration in Singapore. This year, the Mid-Autumn Festival coincidentally lands on another Chinese holiday, National Day.

日内瓦湖岸上陡峭的拉沃葡萄园梯田，瑞士 Steeply terraced vineyards of the Lavaux region on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland (© Yves Marcoux/plainpicture)

A crush in Lavaux

The 'crush season,' aka the grape harvest, has arrived in these picturesque Swiss vineyards. The steeply terraced vineyards of the Lavaux region along Lake Geneva's northern shore produce grapes for some of the best wine in the country. The vine terraces can be traced back to the 11th century, when Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries controlled the area. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007, Lavaux is the largest contiguous vineyard region in Switzerland. It's known for producing Chasselas wine, a full, dry, and fruity white wine that's considered the ideal pairing for Swiss raclette cheese. We'll toast to that!

温哥华东部的弗雷泽河和金耳朵山脉，加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省 Fraser River east of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with the Golden Ears mountains (© LeonU/Getty Images)

Take me to the river

Today we're recognizing World Rivers Day—a conservation event that branched off in 2005 from its source, BC Rivers Day, founded near this British Columbia river's banks 40 years ago today. The Fraser River flows through a showcase of this Canadian province's diverse landscape: It originates in the Rocky Mountains, carves steep valleys through central BC, and irrigates rich farmlands outside Vancouver before spilling into the sea just south of the city. The river flows gently in this stretch, as seen from the span of the Port Mann Bridge east of Vancouver, with the Golden Ears mountains in the background. Thanks to preservation efforts, the Fraser's main stem remains completely undammed, with its drainage basin covering 25 percent of BC's land area.

A drainage basin is what we in the US usually call a watershed: Every river has tributaries, or other rivers and springs that flow into it and add to its volume. A river's watershed is the area covered by the main flow and all its tributaries put together. Watersheds may exist within other watersheds, such as when a tributary is longer than the river it feeds—a classic example is North America's longest river, the Missouri, whose vast watershed is a subdivision of the sea-bound yet shorter Mississippi's.

Delicate environments like rivers are interconnected, and actions have downstream effects—that's what World Rivers Day aims to highlight through hands-on cleanup opportunities and virtual events. Scroll down to search what's currently planned in your area.

沃特金斯格伦州立公园的彩虹瀑布，纽约州北部芬格湖群 Watkins Glen State Park's Rainbow Falls in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York (© Kenneth Keifer/Alamy)

Wandering Watkins Glen

When we talk about celebrating public lands, the images that pop into our heads are generally icons of the famous national parks out West. Old Faithful, El Capitan, the Arches. Our photo for National Public Lands Day, instead highlights the relatively unsung beauty of the more than 10,000 state parks dotting the nation from coast to coast.

Watkins Glen State Park, just south of Seneca Lake in upstate New York, is centered around a trail that descends with this rushing stream through picturesque cliffs, passing over and under 19 waterfalls. Sure, it's not Niagara Falls (which is part of the same New York State Parks system and is the oldest state park in the US). But especially in the crisp northeastern autumn, this stepped gorge is a tranquil showcase of the rugged landscape surrounding the glacially carved Finger Lakes region.

According to the National Park Service, National Public Lands Day is the largest volunteer event in the US, with opportunities to help with conservation and maintenance from city parks to national forests. But if you'd rather keep your distance, relax, and enjoy the public spaces we all share, most state and national parks are waiving their entrance fees for the day. Happy trails!