Wakodahatchee wetlands, Delray Beach, Florida, US. Equipped with sinewy necks and spear-like bills, great blue herons can lunge with fearsome speed to strike their aquatic prey. Adults will also employ rapid stabbing motions as one aspect of their complex courtship displays; they’re seemingly dangerous moves, but fitting to the intensity of mating season. (Photo by Melissa Rowell/Audubon Photography Awards)

A photojournalist is silhouetted by the sunset as a lightning strike at a resort affected by Saturday's tsunami in Carita, Indonesia, Tuesday, December 25, 2018. Christmas celebrations traditionally filled with laughter and uplifting music were replaced by somber prayers for tsunami victims in an area hit without warning following a volcanic eruption, leaving hundreds of people dead and thousands homeless in disaster-prone Indonesia. (Photo by Fauzy Chaniago/AP Photo)

British sculptor Laurence Edwards' striking bronze figures, Walking Men, at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, UK on April 9, 2024. The 8ft tall figures are seen to be anti-heroic and seem to have come from the earth itself. Branches, leaves and clods of clay are woven through them, making it unclear where human and ground begin and end. (Photo by Pete Seaward/South West News Service)

Palestinians flee areas of Rafah amid renewed Israeli strikes, southern Gaza Strip, 28 May 2024. More than 36,000 Palestinians and over 1,400 Israelis have been killed, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), since Hamas militants launched an attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip on 07 October 2023, and the Israeli operations in Gaza and the West Bank which followed it. (Photo by Haitham Imad/EPA)

One of the worlds shortest models Mary Russell at 4 feet 1 inch with 6 foot model Georgia Meacham in London, UK on June 16, 2016. The 4ft1 beauty suffers with achondroplasia a medical term for dwarfism, which means she has as average sized torso but short arms and short legs, with an oversized head. As well as stifled growth, Mary also suffers with sciatica and spinal stenosis, an abnormal narrowing of the spinal canal – which cause agonising nerve problems, leaving her in excruciating pain and unable to stand for long periods of time. The condition leaves Mary, 47, struggling with everyday tasks things most people take for granted like going to the supermarket, getting cash from an ATM and ordering a drink at a bar become a challenge. (Photo by Simon Jacobs/Caters News Agency)

A couple passes the sculpture “Transformer” by Chinese artist Bi Heng during snowfall in Kassel, central Germany, Tuesday March 12, 2013. Frankfurt airport closed, a quarter of flights out of Paris were canceled, Belgium suffered record traffic jams and high-speed trains were stuck in stations – all because of a sudden dump of oddly late snowfall on Western Europe. Less prepared for the kind of heavy snow that regularly hits northern and eastern neighbors, France, Britain and Belgium struggled Tuesday to keep moving amid the frosty, blustery conditions. (Photo by Uwe Zucchi/AP Photo/Dpa)

Guardian of the Mangroves – Overall Winner. Tanya Houppermans, Cuba. A curious American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) swims right up to Tanya, at Gardens of the Queen (Jardines De La Reina), an archipelago off the coast of Cuba. It has been strictly protected since 1996, and is one of the most untouched marine ecosystems in the world. ‍ “The healthy population of American crocodiles is down to the pristine condition of the mangroves and I wanted to capture close ups of this gentle giant in its natural habitat. I hope this image can illustrate that protecting areas like this is so critical”. (Photo by Tanya Griffin Houppermans/Mangrove Photographer of the Year)

Looking at the photos taken by Aaron Groenom, very easy to get lost in this starry wonderland. A series of photos Dark Places - a collection of works in which the artist from South Dakota contrasts the beauty of the universe to various natural or man-made forms on Earth. Using long exposures, it captures the magical landscape filled with fabulous atmosphere, striking color palettes and far-distant galaxies.