The Boeing 747-8 cargo plane pilot has seen thunderstorms, shooting stars and sunsets from up above the clouds and has looked down on mountaintops, carpets of cloud and cities lit up at night. The incredible pictures give a glimpse of the view from the pilots are treated to every day. Here: Shooting stars over India. (Photo by Christiaan van Heijst/Caters News Agency)

A period of relative stability has put the Iranian capital No1 on the list of world cities that have achieved biggest improvements in liveability over the past five years, as calculated by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The “most improved” top 10 contains some unexpected names. So, eg, the fourth place: Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Latest ranking: 128; Ranking five years ago: 131; Five-year index movement: 3.8%. Here: A supporter of Ivory Coast president Alassane Ouattara campaigns in a market in the city’s Koumassi quarter. (Photo by Sia Kambou/AFP Photo)

A female army recruit attends a base training at the armored battalion in Setermoen, northern Norway on August 11, 2016. Norway has become the first NATO member to have compulsory conscription for women as well as men in the army. Recently, the first batch of army recruits joined the ranks in The Armored Battalion in the Norwegian Army located in Setermoen in northern Norway. (Photo by Kyrre Lien/AFP Photo)

Relatives clean the body of Paul Sampe Lumba who has been dead for seven yeas during the Ma'nene ritual at Panggala Village on August 26, 2016 in Toraja, Indonesia. The Ma'nene ritual in performed during a ceremony every three years, where the dead are exhumed for a change of clothes, among the people of Toraja as an expression of the love of the surviving family. (Photo by Sijori Images/Barcroft Images)

View at one of the sculptures by Swiss artist H.R. Giger during the opening of the Ars Electronica 2013 exhibition “HR Giger. The Art of Biomechanics” in Linz, Austria, 04 September 2013. (Photo by EPA/RUBRA)

“In anatomy, heterochromia refers to a difference in coloration, usually of the iris (but also of hair or skin). Although infrequently seen in humans, complete heterochromia is more frequently observed in other species, where it almost always involves one blue eye”. – Wikipedia (Photo by StooMathiesen)

A reveller dressed as Spider-Man takes part in a presentation at the top of a building during an annual block party known as “Enquanto isso na Sala da Justiça” (Meanwhile, in the justice room), one of the many carnival parties taking place in the neighbourhood of Olinda, Brazil February 7, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best.