Record snowfall in the Sahara Desert near the town of Ain Sefra in Algeria on January 21, 2017. (Photo by Geoff Robinson/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A man performs ablution using water at an old fountain before performing prayers in the old city of Algiers Al Casbah, Algeria December 3, 2015. The Algiers Casbah is a UNESCO World heritage site that includes the Sidi Ramdane mosque and former fortress, 10 centuries old. Decay from the passing years, as well as earthquake damage in 2003, leads some to consider a move to modern apartments with financial backing from the government. Others refuse to leave a neighbourhood they have called home for decades. (Photo by Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

A Ukrainian girl plays with balloons with the colours of her country's flag aboard the Corsica Linea ferry “Mediterranee” in Marseille, southern France, on April 26, 2022. Anna and her children enjoy the sun on the deck of a ferry moored in Marseille: they are not vacationers but Ukrainian refugees who, on this boat, have finally found safety, “like in a village”, with 700 others compatriots. The “Mediterranean” usually serves Algeria, for the Corsica Linea. But it is now docked, at the Joliette ferry terminal in Marseille, with its unusual passengers. (Photo by Nicolas Tucat/AFP Photo)

An Algerian demonstrator wearing face paint in the colours of the national flag takes part in an anti-government demonstration in the capital Algiers on November 1, 2019. Demonstrators converged on Algiers in their thousands for a massive anti-government rally called to coincide with official celebrations of the anniversary of the war that won Algeria's independence from France. (Photo by Ryad Kramdi/AFP Photo)

These stunning photographs may look like alien planets, but they are actually satellite images of planet Earth. Commercial satellite company DigitalGlobe recently released the images as a way of highlighting the incredible detail of their imagery – the highest-resolution commercial satellite imagery in the world. Some of the images – taken above Afghanistan, Algeria, Peru, Russia and the United States – look more like abstract works by Mondrian than segments of the globe. DigitalGlobe, based in Westminster, Colo., launched its first satellite in 1999 and currently has four in operation. Here: Trementina, New Mexico. (Photo by DigitalGlobe/Caters News)

Fire retardant is dropped on the Fairview Fire burning near Hemet, California, U.S., September 6, 2022. (Photo by David Swanson/Reuters)

U.S. soldiers from 145th Field Artillery Battalion deployed from the United States fire Paladin self propelled gun during the Foal Eagle training exercise at firing point 180 at the Rodriguez Live Fire Range on March 15, 2012 in Pocheon, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)