Pilanesberg Ring Dike Complex

While big game animals such as lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, and buffaloes draw most visitors to Pilanesberg National Park, the land these animals live on is just as compelling. Pilanesberg is located in one of the world’s largest and best preserved alkaline ring dike complexes—a rare circular feature that emerged from the subterranean plumbing of an ancient volcano. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired this image of the park in South Africa on June 19, 2015. Seen from above, the concentric rings of hills and valleys make a near perfect circle, with different rings composed of different types of igneous rock. The entire structure sits about 100 to 500 meters (300 to 1,600 feet) above the surrounding landscape. The highest point—Matlhorwe Peak—rises 1,560 meters (5,118 feet) above sea level.

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

James Webb Space Telescope

The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.

Perseverance Rover

Parker Solar Probe

Juno