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Bokeh effect in Orion
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!"
January 6, 2017
Light pillars over Sun Valley, Idaho
Ice crystals in the air create these beautiful, upward shafts of light.
January 4, 2017
See it! Moon sweeps past Venus and Mars
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.
January 3, 2017
Geese flying along anticrepuscular rays
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.
January 1, 2017
Top gallery of 2016: Eclipse over Indonesia
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.
December 31, 2016
A Sirius culmination
Photo by Project Nightflight during a culmination of the sky's brightest star, Sirius, above the volcanos of La Palma in the Canary Islands.
December 30, 2016
Venus and a cloud shadow
Another sunset spectacle from Peter Lowenstein's hilltop perch above Mutare, Zimbabwe.
December 28, 2016
Arc and 2 sundogs over Illinois
Halos like this one around the sun or moon are caused by ice crystal high in Earth's sky. Notice the upside-down rainbow-like arc above. It's called a circumzenithal arc.
December 27, 2016
Snow in the Sahara Desert
Snow in a place where summertime temperatures are high - though wintertime temps can drop to freezing - and where precipitation from the skies is rare.
December 26, 2016
