Picture 1000

Tyrrhenian Sea and Solstice Sky Image Credit & Copyright: Danilo Pivato Explanation: Today the solstice occurs at 23:03 Universal Time, the Sun reaching its southernmost declination in planet Earth's sky. Of course, the December solstice marks the beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the south. When viewed from northern latitudes, and as shown in the above horizontally compressed image, the Sun will make its lowest arc through the sky along the southern horizon. So in the north, the solstice day has the shortest length of time between sunrise and sunset and fewest hours of daylight. This striking composite image follows the Sun's path through the December solstice day of 2005 in a beautiful blue sky, looking down the Tyrrhenian Sea coast from Santa Severa toward Fiumicino, Italy. The view covers about 115 degrees in 43 separate, well-planned exposures from sunri...

Barack Obama (pictured in the 1960s)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A high-ranking Roman Catholic official has been exonerated of clergy sex abuse allegations by a Vatican tribunal after a decade of investigation and is once more considered a priest in good standing with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, church officials said Monday. The decision to reinstate Msgr. Richard Loomis is rare — particularly after so many years — and the move drew immediate condemnation from an attorney for the alleged victim and church critics who say the tribunal never reached out to the accusers of Loomis after they gave an initial account and didn't inform them of the decision. Loomis, 68, has been on inactive leave and living outside the church since allegations surfaced in 2003 that he molested a boy between 1968 and 1971 at a Catholic high school where he taught. Another boy told his parents in 1974 that he had been molested by Loomis, and the family reported it to a parish priest, according to church documents. Loomis has denied any w...

Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia. Within the boundaries of this heavily forested national park, 16 crystalline lakes tumble into each other via a series of waterfalls and cascades. The mineral-rich waters carve through the rock, depositing tufa in continually changing formations. Clouds of butterflies drift above the 18km of wooden footbridges and pathways which snake around the edges and under and across the rumbling water. It takes upwards of six hours to explore the lakes on foot, or you can slice two hours off by taking advantage of the park's free boats and buses (departing every 30 minutes from April to October). From Entrance 2, catch the bus to the top of the upper lakes and wander back down to the shore of Kozjak , the park's largest lake (about 4km in length). A boat will whisk you from here to the lower lakes, where the circuit culminates in the aptly named Veliki Slap , the tallest waterfal...

Planning to make the move to a solid-state drive? You should, and here's the software you need to go with it. Plus: three bonus deals! http://www.cnet.com/news/get-paragon-migrate-os-to-ssd-4-0-for-15-96/

Mirror Image Photograph by Torsten Muehlbacher, National Geographic Your Shot On a stretch of road between Söderhamn and Gävle on the Swedish coast, Your Shot member Torsten Muehlbacher noticed this small island reflected in a lake. "I drove to a nearby parking area and walked a few minutes for the perfect view," he writes. "I put my camera on a tripod and made a long-exposure shot for a better 'mirror' on the lake, because it was not windless." Muehlbacher's picture recently appeared in Your Shot's Daily Dozen. This photo was submitted to Your Shot. Check out the new and improved website, where you can share photos, take part in assignments, lend your voice to stories, and connect with fellow photographers from around the globe.

 Colorful Amsterdam

In Green Company: Aurora over Norway Image Credit & Copyright: Max Rive Explanation: Raise your arms if you see an aurora. With those instructions, two nights went by with, well, clouds -- mostly. On the third night of returning to same peaks, though, the sky not only cleared up but lit up with a spectacular auroral display. Arms went high in the air, patience and experience paid off, and the amazing featured image was captured. The setting is a summit of the Austnesfjorden fjord close to the town of Svolvear on the Lofoten islands in northern Norway. The time was early March. Our Sun has been producing an abundance of picturesque aurora of late as it is near the time of its maximum surface activity in its 11-year magnetic cycle.

Mystery of Amelia Earhart Solved? Fragment From Missing Plane Identified Researchers at The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) revealed that a piece from Amelia Earhart's vanished aircraft has been identified in Nikumaroro, an atoll in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati. This is the first time that an artifact from the wreckage has been directly linked to Earhart's last expedition, in which she was attempting to circumnavigate the Earth at the equator, and sheds new light on the 77-year-old aviation mystery. The 19-inch-wide by 23-inch-long piece, found by researchers in 1991, is strongly believed to be a metal fragment installed on the window of Earhart's Lockheed Electra aircraft during her eight-day stay in Miami, which was her fourth stop on the journey. A photograph on TIGHAR's site from The Miami Herald, dated July 1, 1937, sho...

Phil Collins holds a Bowie knife that belonged to Jesse Robinson who fought under Jim Bowie at the Battle of Concepcion and the Siege of Bexar on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014 in San Antonio. Collins has handed over his vast collection of artifacts related to the Battle of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution to the state of Texas. Collins donated what's considered the world's largest private collection of Alamo artifacts. It includes a fringed leather pouch and a gun used by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie's legendary knife. (AP Photo/The San Antonio Express-News, Bob Owen)

Collecting wild water lily During the floating season on Mekong delta every year from August to November,wild water lily grow every where in the rice field now covered by water. They become a traditional food for people living in this region and processed into special dishes such as salad,sour soup with fish... By: Nhiem Hoang - Vietnam

  Is There A Limit To How Big Vegetables Can Grow? Fourteen years ago, the world's largest pumpkin weighed in at 1,140 pounds. That's an impressively-sized pumpkin, but it doesn't even come close to sizing up to the newest monster crop of the last decade, the largest of which weighs more than twice that at 2,323 pounds.

Climbing Palitana Palitana is the world's only mountain that has more than 900 temples. The Palitana temples and whole mountain are considered the most sacred pilgrimage place (tirtha) by the Jain community, and is the world's largest Temple Complex. There are more than 3000 temples located on the Shatrunjaya hills, exquisitely carved in marble. The main temple on top of the hill, is dedicated to 1st tirthankar lord Adinath (Rishabdeva) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palitana

Elvis in the Army, 1958.

Disneyland opening day, 1955 (via LIFE)

The "shadow" of a Hiroshima victim, permanently etched into stone steps, after the 1945 atomic bomb

"Chợ" (Market in Vietnamese), a culture is indispensable in Vietnam. By: Duy An Nguyen - Vietnam

Turkey tail bracket fungus Fall day saw this beautiful bracket fungusBy: Lance Isackson - Canada

  A view of flooded cranberry bogs in Carver, Mass as berries float to the surface during the harvest on Oct 9. (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

  Have you had any nightmares, lately? Would you like some? Then you'll love the   South American Goliath birdeater . This furry spider is the size of a puppy, and thanks to hard claws on the tips of its foot-long legs, it makes a horrifying clicking sound when it scampers through the forrest. Harvard etymologist Piotr Naskrecki   recently spotted a Goliath birdeater   in Guyana. He was actually hunting for katydids but instead he enjoyed the pleasure of meeting a puppy-sized spider. EXPAND At first, Naskrecki thought it was a possum. Then, like any good scientiest would do when spotting a rare species, he lunged at it. This   was a mistake : Every time I got too close to the birdeater it would do three things. First, the spider would start rubbing its hind legs against the hairy abdomen. "Oh, how cute!", I thought when I first saw this a...

  The X-37B—America's spy space drone— has landed safely   after a record-setting orbit of 675 days.   While this was expected,   that doesn't make it any less incredible. The fact that this spacecraft has been in orbit for almost two years and has returned to Earth intact is an amazing technological feat. The spacecraft landed today at 9:24am at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California after carrying various "on-orbit experiments." Nobody knows what these orbital experiments are. Her missions and actual capabilities are classified. Speculation ranges from capture, refuel, and repair of spy satellites using robotic gear to actual spy missions of rival space powers to testing of advanced spy gear directed at Earth. For all we know, it may as well be a weapons testing platform.

The morning sun kindles a view of fall foliage on Lake Towada in Aomori, Japan. Sitting at the base of Mount Hakkoda, the lake and the annual autumn display of its forested banks are a popular tourist draw. This photo was submitted to the 2014 National Geographic Photo Contest. http://www.picture1000.com?id=24