A DIY GALAXY | In a major triumph for citizen science, amateur astrophotographer Robert Gendler created this image of spiral galaxy M106 himself, combining his own ground-based photos with Hubble Space Telescope images. More details here
MOONDOG NIGHT | This rainbow-like ring of light around the Moon is what's known as a Moondog, and it's caused by the reflection of moonlight from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. Find out more here
THE SKY IS ANGRY | A long-exposure photo of a lightning storm looks downright apocalyptic, and shows how terrifying nature's assault really is. See more here.
HAIL KARGAN! | "Kargan Dragonlord" by Jason Chan — just one of the amazing pieces of Magic the Gathering art featured in our retrospective gallery
YOU THINK IT'S ROUGH NOW | Think the weather is crazy now? Just imagine what it looked like on Earth right after the mega-collision that formed the Moon. More details here
THIS STRANGE AND LOVELY WORLD | The Alps look like an alien planet in this photo taken from the International Space Station. See more lovely and alien-looking visions of our planet, as seen from space, here.
WATCH OUT FOR BURNINATION! | The most spectacular solar eruption of 2012, featuring a coronal mass ejection tearing away from the sun at 900 miles per second. This is just one of the best space porn images of 2012
BLACK VELVET PLANET | An amazing photo of Saturn, backlit by the sun, from the Cassini Space Probe. More details here.
LOOK OUT BELOW | The Geminid meteor shower, photographed by Tommy Eliassen from Hemnes, Norway. See more beautiful Geminid photos here.
OVER THE RAINBOW | Sunset Cloud Village, one of the most picturesque places in China, photographed by Peng Jiang. Just one of the winners of National Geographic's photo contest.
