The tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation Carina. (Photo by Reuters/NASA)

Located at the foot of the Rocky Mountains on the North Saskatchewan River, the rare phenomenon occurs each winter in the man-made lake. Photo: Ice bubbles in Abraham Lake. (Photo by Chip Phillips/Rex Features)

There is an endless bounty of eye-catching gemstones throughout the world and this spectacular boulder opal is one unique beauty that looks like a shimmering crystal encased in a tree fossil. Its opalescent sheen seeps through the cracks of the seemingly wooden rings in lustrous hues of emerald green and aqua blue. Like something out of a fairy tale, the triangular piece radiates through an organic pattern mimicking the growth rings of tree.

Bao Bao, the Giant Panda cub is seen by the media for the first time January 6, 2014 inside his glass enclosure at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, DC, a few days before going on display to the general public. Bao Bao was born at the Smithsonian's National Zoo August 2, 2013. (Photo by Paul J. Richards/AFP Photo)

In this image made available by France's Marine Nationale, the cargo ship TK Bremen sits stranded on a beach near Erdeven, France, on December 16, 2011, spilled fuel oil fouling the water. (AP Photo/Mael Prigent, Marine Nationale)

An oversized, prehistoric praying mantis wreaks havoc in a freeway underpass as it overturns cars and trucks, in a film still from “The Deadly Mantis”, directed by Nathan Juran, 1957. (Photo by Universal Pictures/Courtesy of Getty Images)

Bex Hetherington exhibits a T-shirt at the Edinburgh College of Art degree show on June 8, 2011 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Students work will be exhibited across the campus buildings turning Edinburgh College of Art into the city's biggest gallery space. The work ranges from conceptual to commercial with inspirational influences as diverse and wide ranging as fashion photography, volcanoes, the crazy lady who put a cat in a bin, fairytales, the star system and serial killers. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

A gallery assistant holds a rare 14th century time-telling device device in Bonhams auction house on December 9, 2011 in London, England. The instrument, which dates from 1396 and was discovered in a shed in Queensland, Australia, is due to be auctioned on December 13, 2011 and is expected to fetch 200,000 GBP. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)