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)

These Northern Lights “rainbows” have turned the sky greener than the Earth below. Vitaly Istomin, 26, spent several nights in freezing conditions under the stars in northern Russia’s Khibiny Mountains to capture the aurora’s “rainbows”. (Photo by Vitaly Istomin/Caters News Agency)

These incredible pictures look like a bird's-eye view of a faraway alien planet – but they're actually hot springs. The amazing snaps are up-close shots of Iceland's hot springs, and the point-blank pictures produce a breathtaking array of colors and effects. Here: The amazing snaps are up-close shots of Icelandic hot springs. (Photo by Johann Vilhjalmsson/Caters News)

With their wings at full length, these beautiful golden eagles soar through the skies in a glorious training session to hunt their prey. Others sit on the arms of their owners and trainers. Batzaya Choijiljav, 41, from Mongolia has taken these magnificent pictures at the annual traditional Kazakhs festival, October 2015. (Photo by Batzaya Choijiljav/Caters News)

The Vietnam Slide Project was created by photo editor Kendra Rennick, who began collecting photo slides after a close friend lost her father, a Vietnam veteran. Her friend found a box of slides that her father had taken while in Vietnam and from there Rennick has continued to collect photographs that Vietnam veterans took during their tours of duty. Here: A photo taken from the collection of D.Thornton, who served in the First Air Cavalry division of the United States Army. (Photo by D.Thornton/The Vietnam Slide Project)

Photographer Emily Dryden and sculptor/actor Zahydé Pietri combine theatricality and organic produce to compose the photographs for their series Fresh Faces. The portraits are made from a wide range of fruit and vegetables and aim to highlight humanity’s diversity – Pietri is from Puerto Rico and Dryden is from New York. Each face has its own name and identity: “We have stories for them, which you can see in the expressions”, says Dryden, “but we decided to keep them to ourselves. We didn’t want to spoil that”. (Photo by Emily Dryden and Zahydé Pietri/The Guardian)

Photographer John Maher, once the drummer with punk bank Buzzcocks, travelled to the Outer Hebrides to photograph abandoned crofters’ cottages – many of which, like this one, have seemingly been untouched since. Here: “Peat Fire”. Taken in March 2013 on the east coast of Harris. The fire is from muir-burning, when farmers burn off grasses and heather to improve grazing for their sheep. (Photo by John Maher/The Guardian)

Reuters photographer Bobby Yip took a series of portraits of people taking part in the “Occupy Central” protests in Hong Kong, and asked them why they had joined the demonstrations. China rules Hong Kong under a “one country, two systems” formula that accords the territory limited democracy. Tens of thousands of mostly student protesters are demanding Beijing give them full democracy, with the freedom to nominate election candidates. The unrest is the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed its rule over the former British colony in 1997. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)