▲Space travel—it’s unbelievably cool, but most of us won’t ever have the opportunity to check out alien planets. Lucky for you, the Earth is vast and strange, and that means it has a host of otherworldly landscapes just waiting for your exploration. There are plenty in the US alone, which means there’s no spaceship—or passport—required.

▲There may not be goblins in this valley, but the whole park looks so different from most parts of the planet that it’s hard to imagine you’re still on Earth.

▲At night, it's a good place to gaze at the stars and pretend you’re somewhere else in the galaxy.

▲Rock formations big and small are everywhere.

▲Located near Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, this crazy-looking thing was formed when a geothermic company drilled on this site. The company hit water that was hot, but not hot enough for their purposes, and resealed the well… badly. It did not hold.

▲Over the past 40 years, minerals from the geothermal water have been depositing on the surface of the desert surrounding the geyser, creating a mound covered in algae that gives it a multi-colored hue.

▲A combination of man-made mistakes and nature taking charge of a situation, Fly Geyser has a uniquely alien appearance.

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Volcanoes don’t just exist on Earth. In fact, Jupiter’s moon Io is actually the most volcanically active location in our solar system.

▲NASA researchers found that Io’s volcano Prometheus looks uncannily similar to Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano.

▲Both Prometheus and Kilauea have lengthy eruptions and flows that move through lava tubes, producing plumes when they come in contact with cooler temperatures, like the water of the Pacific Ocean.

▲This slot canyon exists on Navajo land in Arizona, not on a planet other than Earth.

▲It was created by erosion of sandstone by water, hence its flowing shapes.

▲It’s become a popular tourist destination, given its beautiful appearance and highly photogenic hues.

▲In Lake Superior, you can find 22 islands called the Apostle Islands.

▲You can find sea caves on the shores of these islands, which can look a little like they might belong on another planet.

▲In the winter, the shoreline can look especially alien, with icicles and frozen waterfalls in the caves and rocky coast.

▲If you need proof that Death Valley has otherworldly qualities, take note that NASA used the national park as a location to run tests before landing a rover on Mars in 2012.

▲It’s certainly reminiscent of Mars, as it’s the driest area in North America.

▲Here you’ll find sand dunes, rock faces, jagged hills, and a dry desert floor with crusty patterns and cracks.

▲Yellowstone National Park’s famed hot spring has a totally bizarre, colorful appearance, the result of pigmented bacteria and microbes that make their home in the warm mineral waters of the spring.

▲The clear blue waters at the pool’s center come from the heat of the water where it boils up from underground, so hot as to make the area completely sterile.

▲The spring looks like part of an alien landscape, but the many tourists who travel all the way to Wyoming to gaze at its beauty are glad that it exists here on Earth.

▲These miles and miles of jagged, rocky peaks sure are something, and that something doesn’t exactly scream “earthly.”

▲The landscape was created by erosion, which continues to do its thing, shrinking the rocky forms bit by bit.

▲You’ll have to check this place out before it… or you… disappear.

▲Like other weird, vaguely alien areas of the country, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve owes its appearance to volcanic activity.

▲The fact that it’s an International Dark Sky Park makes it look even more like another planet.

▲Lava flows and cinder cones lend the land a unique, otherworldly quality.

▲The Grand Canyon is otherworldly in its vastness, with its dry red dust, its sheer rock faces, and more. Looking out over the protected landscape, you might feel like you’re somewhere outside of your ordinary world.

▲Sunsets and stars are clear, and even river water appears in stark contrast to the canyon’s orange-tinged stone.

▲Maui’s Haleakala Crater is a sight to behold, with a landscape of cinder cones and a massive crater backfilled by lava flows, not to mention killer sunsets.

▲Adding to the alien appearance are clouds that sometimes hover over the terrain.

▲The volcano isn’t exactly done erupting, so you might want to check it out while it’s still dormant.

▲Who painted these dunes in different hues? Not aliens. The artists behind these bad boys are earthly volcanoes in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

▲These dunes are actually pumice fields formed from volcanic ash.

▲The ash oxidized and turned into vivid colors because it fell onto a bed of hot lava, creating this bizarre and beautiful landscape.

▲You can find The Wave in Arizona’s Coyote Buttes ravine, though you’d be forgiven if you thought you could find it somewhere in outer space.

▲The Wave is made of sandstone structures, curved and undulating, with dunes and stripes of color.

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The geological formation began to form 90 million years ago. No big deal.

Places in the US that look like alien planets

Out of this world

24/12/24 por StarsInsider

TRAVEL Space

Space travel—it’s unbelievably cool, but most of us won’t ever have the opportunity to check out alien planets. Lucky for you, the Earth is vast and strange, and that means it has a host of otherworldly landscapes just waiting for your exploration. There are plenty in the US alone, which means there’s no spaceship—or passport—required.