The deserts of Argentina take on a starring role in this photographer’s breathtaking Milky Way shots. Amateur snapper Gonzalo Javier Santile, 46, spent the last two years capturing these rare shots of the galaxy as it arced over deserts in Salta Cafayate, Cordoba Valle de Punilla, Provincia de Buenos Aires and the Rio Negro province. In his pictures, the Milky Way can be admired as it towers over canyons, cacti, bushes, and even small brooks and lakes. (Photo by Gonzalo Javier Santile/Caters News Agency)

Performers on boats take part in the Qintong Boat Festival at Qin Lake National Wetland Park on April 6, 2019 in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province of China. The boat festival is held around the Qingming Festival every year, and up to 10,000 participants from nearby villages and towns, with more than 500 boats, took part in the event this year. (Photo by Tang Dehong/VCG via Getty Images)

Boats moored in the middle of Dal lake are silhouetted against the setting sun on January 15, 2018 in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian administered Kashmir, India. Kashmir, the Muslim majority state, known as the “Paradise on Earth” has for centuries captured the imagination of many writers, poets and film makers and is integral to the tourist trade. Kashmir has been a contested land between nuclear neighbors India and Pakistan since 1947, the year both the countries attained freedom from the British rule. (Photo by Yawar Nazir/Getty Images)

Believers bathe in the icy water during a traditional Epiphany at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Ostankino near TV Tower in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, January 18, 2023. Across Russia, the devout and the daring are observing the Orthodox Christian feast day of Epiphany by immersing themselves in frigid water through holes cut through the ice of lakes and rivers. Epiphany celebrates the revelation of Jesus Christ as the incarnation of God through his baptism in the River Jordan. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

Villagers from the Medio Jurua nature reserve of Brazil's Amazon rainforest arrive with their catch of pirarucus, the largest freshwater fish in South America, after a night of fishing in Manaria Lake, Carauari municipality, September 3, 2012. Catching the pirarucu, a fish that is sought after for its meat and is considered by biologists to be a living fossil, is only allowed once a year by Brazil's environmental protection agency. (Photo by Bruno Kelly/Reuters)

A long skater speeds away on the rain-wet ice on lake Orlangen, South of Stockholm on December 15, 2013. Meteorologists forecast temperatures around 5 degrees for southern Sweden. (Photo by Tobias Rostlund/AFP Photo)

P.S. All pictures, as usual, are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

An ice swimming enthusiast dressed as Neptune takes to the frigid waters of Orankesee lake during the 27th annual "Winter Swimming in Berlin" on January 8, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. A local swimmers' group called the “Berlin Seals” invite ice swimmers from across Germany and abroad to the annual event. Members claim ice swimming is good for the body's blood circulation. (Photo by Sean Gallup)

Children enjoy a sledge ride past ice swimming fans at the Zalew Zegrzynski lake in Nieporet, Poland, Sunday, February 25, 2018. A cold wave hit Poland with the temperature minus 8 degree Celsius (17.6 Fahrenheit) during the day and dropping to minus 16 degree Celsius (3.2 Fahrenheit) in the night in central Poland. (Photo by Alik Keplicz/AP Photo)