100 Most Spectacular Night Sky Photos of 2013

Milky Way Over Machu Picchu

Thomas O'Brien sent SPACE.com this image of the Milky Way over Machu Picchu on July 4, 2013. He captured the photo from Putucusi Mountain, which is located across the Urubamba River Valley from the historic sanctuary of Machu Picchu, Peru. Machu Picchu is the dark, saddle-shaped area between mountains on right side of the image where the arc of the Milky Way intersects with the horizon. [Read the Full Story]

Milky Way and Meteor Over Cannon Mountain Observatory

Christopher Georgia took this photo of the Milky Way as a meteor shot across the sky in July near Cannon Mountain Observatory in Franconia, N.H. He used a Nikon D3s camera, Nikon 50mm lens, exposure of 10 seconds, f/2.8 and ISO 2500, to capture the image. The photo was release to SPACE.com July 17, 2013. [Read the Full Story]

Milky Way and Star Trails Over Rural Maine

Mike Taylor sent SPACE.com this photo, which is a composite of 81 frames from a static time lapse of the Milky Way moving across the sky over rural Maine. Taylor stacked the frames of this sequence to make a standard star trails image and then blended/masked in a single frame of the Milky Way. He used a Nikon D7000 camera and a Tokina 11-16mm at 11mm, f/2.8, 25 sec, ISO 1600 on June 10, 2013 to capture the image. Posted July 9, 2013. [Read the Full Story]

Fireworks and the Moon

Astrophotographer Giuseppe Petricca captured this dazzling photo of the quarter moon and fireworks over Pisa, Italy on June 16, 2013. Petricca snapped the photos during a fireworks display launched from the Arno River during Pisa's Patron Saint's Day celebrations. Photo posted on July 4. [Read the Full Story]

Supermoon Over Grand Canyon

Jason Hines took this photo of the supermoon over the Grand Canyon North Rim on June 23, 2013. He used a Nikon D800e, Nikon 800mm lens, and a 1.7x teleconverter to capture the image. Image posted on July 2. [Read the Full Story]

Blue Sun Alan Friedman

Alan Friedman took this image of the sun from his backyard in Buffalo, New Yorkon May 14, 2013 with a 90mm Coronado CaK telescope and a PGR Grasshopper Express 6 megapixel camera. He applied a specific color of extreme violet light called CaK in this image that makes the sun appear to look intensely blue. Friedman then false color-inverts the image. The process highlights the sun’s surface including texture, bright sunspots, and hot active regions appearing dark. Image posted on July 3. [Read the Full Story]

Northern Lights, Bootid Meteor and Milky Way Over Kansas

While pursuing storms across the United States, photographer Jeff Berkes snapped a surprise smorgasbord of night sky delights, including the northern lights, a Bootid meteor, lightning and the Milky Way.[Full Story]

Aurora Borealis Over Sweden

This view of the aurora borealis over Sweden was captured by astrophotographer Chad Blakley.

Magnificent Lunar Halo Glows Over Malaysia (Photo)

Photographer Justin Ng of Singapore captured this breathtaking image of a lunar halo over Mersing, Malaysia. [Read the Full Story]

Moonrise Over Vimy Mountain, Alberta, Canada

Sky watcher Austin Moloughney sent in a photo of the moon rising taken from Vimy Mountain, Alberta, Canada, on August 18, 2013. [See More Images]