On August 31, 2012, a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the sun's atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. EDT. The coronal mass ejection, or CME, traveled at over 900 miles per second. The CME did not travel directly toward Earth, but did connect with Earth's magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, causing aurora to appear on the night of Monday, September 3. (Photo by NASA/GSFC/SDO via The Atlantic)
Contorsionist Rich Miteku performs during the opening of the 41st Monte-Carlo International Circus Festival in Monaco on January 19, 2017. (Photo by Valery Hache/AFP Photo)
Members of the “Avalon” team wearing 14th century knight costumes fight against each other on the bank of the Yenisei River during the regional amateurs tournament of clubs of historical reconstruction, “The Battle of the Nations 2015. Siberia”, in Krasnoyarsk January 24, 2015. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)
A string is used to ensure that the skirts of female members of the honour guard are in the same height from the ground as they prepare for a welcoming ceremony for Congo Republic President Denis Sassou Nguesso outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, July 5, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)
A motorcyclist carries three young woman as he performs a wheelie on his motorbike during an exhibition in the Chapellin neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, June 12, 2022. (Photo by Matias Delacroix/AP Photo)
An osprey flies with a fish in its talons at the Sebastian Inlet State Park in Melbourne Beach, Florida on April 1, 2025. (Photo by Ronen Tivony/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)
A folk artist performs a stunning fire-pot performance on October 18, 2024 in Guangzhou,Guangdong Province of China.Huohu (fire pot) is a traditional folk performance art.Performers put well-burned charcoal into iron meshes on both sides and shake the meshes up and down so that the charcoal will flare up and blazing sparks will burst out of the meshes and light up the sky just like fireworks. (Photo by John Ricky/Anadolu via Getty Images)