The antennas of the European Southern Observatory's Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, also known as ALMA, are set against the splendor of the Milky Way in this picture by Babak Tafreshi. Construction of the full ALMA array is due to be completed in Chile's Atacama Desert in 2013, but the facility is already making scientific observations with a partial array of antennas. (Photo by ESO/B. Tafreshi/TWAN)

A man holds a girl as she tries to escape when she realised she is to to be married, about 80 km (50 miles) from the town of Marigat in Baringo County, Kenya, December 7, 2014. As Pokot tradition dictates, the future husband arrived to her family home with a group of men to collect the girl. The men arrived with the last settled dowry of livestock for the girl's family. In this case it was 20 goats, three camels and 10 cows, given during a period of several weeks. (Photo by Siegfried Modola/Reuters)

In this March 31, 2019 photo, an Egyptian student borrows a Bedouin wedding dress to pose for a photograph with Bedouin men from the Hamada tribe, in Wadi Sahw, Abu Zenima, in South Sinai, Egypt. Four Bedouin women are for the first time leading tours in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, breaking new ground in their deeply conservative community, where women almost never work outside the home or interact with outsiders. The tourists can only be women, and the tours can’t go overnight. Each day before the sun sets, the group returns to the Hamada’s home village in Wadi Sahu, a narrow desert valley. (Photo by Nariman El-Mofty/AP Photo)

The Tibetan night sky was captured in these beautiful images showing the stunning buildings and statues in the Himalayan mountains. Grey Chow, 33, traveled for two hours to get to the Spiti Valley to capture the starry backdrop along the isolated, deserted roads. The senior project engineer was able to take amazingly clear images thanks to the limited amount of pollution at the 4,500-foot (1371m) altitude. (Photo by Grey Chow/Caters News Agency)

Even the powerhouse of Europe has its fair share of abandoned properties and empty shop fronts as seen in these pictures of decaying buildings in Germany. Photographer Daniel Barter, 30, from London traveled Berlin and the surrounding countryside to capture buildings in need of work on film. Far from being resplendent in vintage glory, the deserted music venues and crumbling hospitals are a shadow of their former selves. German eagle motifs flake off ceilings and concert halls designed for hundreds have not seen a show for years. Photo: Lung sanatorium. (Photo by Daniel Barter/Caters News)

The Mano de Desierto is a large-scale sculpture of a hand located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, 75 km to the south of the city of Antofagasta, on the Panamerican Highway. The nearest point of reference is the “Ciudad Empresarial La Negra” (La Negra Business City). The sculpture was constructed by the Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal at an altitude of 1,100 meters above sea level. Irarrázabal used the human figure to express emotions like injustice, loneliness, sorrow and torture. Its exaggerated size is said to emphasize human vulnerability and helplessness. The work has a base of iron and cement, and stands 11 metres (36 ft) tall. Funded by Corporación Pro Antofagasta, a local booster organization, the sculpture was inaugurated on March 28, 1992.

Captured by South African photographer Dillon Marsh, these fantastic photographs depict the many designs employed by sociable weavers to build sturdy nests that are safe from intruders such as cobras and tree snakes. They are also nice cool during the day, and stay warm during cold desert nights. A University of Stellenbosch graduate, Marsh is currently interested in landscape photographer who seeks out anomalies that can be arranged in a photographic series. Assimilation depicts scores of intricate weaver’s nests atop utility poles in Southern Africa. Colonies of sociable weavers have been known to stay attached to one particular nest for up to 100 years, according to The San Diego Zoo.