Beauties of the Night Sky

This photo by Bill Snyder of the U.S. The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most photographed objects in the night sky, but this image portrays it in a brand new light. Snyder draws the eye down to the creased and folded landscape of gas and dust at its base, rather than focusing solely on the silhouette of the horsehead itself. Snyder also includes the glowing cavity surrounding a bright star to the lower left of the horsehead.

Germany's Eugen Kamenew photo of an eclipse in Kenya.The sun and moon sink together behind a Kenyan savanna skyline, locked in an eclipse in which the moon is silhouetted against the sun’s bright disc. This rare example of a hybrid solar eclipse took place in November 2013, beginning at sunrise over the western Atlantic as an annular eclipse, in which the moon does not entirely block the sun, leaving a bright ring uncovered. As the moon’s shadow swept across the ocean the eclipse became total. By the time the eclipse reached Kenya the sun was once again emerging from behind the moon, creating this breathtaking crescent shape at sunset.

Mark Hanson of the U.S. photo of the galaxy NGC 3718. Observed from Rancho Hidalgo in Animas, New Mexico, the barred spiral galaxy is found in the constellation of Ursa Major. Gravitational interactions with its near neighbor NGC 3729 (the spiral galaxy below and to the left) are thought to cause the galaxy's warped spiral arms. A dark dust streak wraps around the center.

Chris Murphy of New Zealand image of the Milky Way and a rock formation in the Wairarapa district of New Zeland. The lack of light pollution on a clear, crisp night allowed the photographer to capture amazing details.

Alexandra Hart of the U.K. photo of the sun's boiling surface.The picture conveys the scale and violence of our home star. The region of solar activity on the left could engulf the Earth several times over, with room to spare. The sun's outer layers behave as a fluid and are constantly twisted and warped by intense magnetic forces.

Patrick Cullis of the U.S. photo was taken with the aid of a high-altitude balloon. Poised on the brink of space, this astonishing shot shows the curving Earth with the towering Rocky Mountains reduced to tiny wrinkles on the surface below. The moon appears as a distant point of light. Launched from Boulder, Colorado, the balloon was at the 87,000-foot level when the image was made.

Matt James of Australia image of a wind farm on the shore of Australia's Lake George. The striking monochromatic composition depicts the power of the wind along with the motion of the sky, illuminated by the shower of stars transforming into trails as Earth rotates.

Julie Fletcher of Australia image of the night sky over Lake Eyre. The brilliant point of light is Venus. The lake is the lowest natural point in Australia.