As seen from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on January 4, Earth reached its closest point to the sun just 40 minutes before the sun reached its highest daily position in Rio`s sky ...
Notice the colors of Orion's stars in this photo that's slightly out-of-focus. Chirag Upreti wrote: "This is a 'bokeh effect,' and turns out it works really well on celestial bodies!"
As 2017 opens, the young moon is sweeping past dazzling Venus in the west after sunset. Mars is there, too, and, for those with optical aid, Neptune! Photos here.
Elusive anticrepuscular rays converge towards a point on the sky opposite the sun. Karl Diefenderfer caught them as 2016 came to a close, as a flock of geese was passing by.
Looking forward to 2017's total solar eclipse over North America? Then you'll enjoy these photos of the total solar eclipse over Indonesia in March 2016. They were the most-viewed images at EarthSky over this past year.