The stunning Milkyway in Midwestern U.S.A. captured by photographer Randy Halverson in 2013. The stunning skies in Midwestern U.S.A. captured by photographer Randy Halverson. The videographer captured rare footage of the Milky Way, the elusive Northern Lights and raging night storms in some of the most isolated regions of the U.S.A. The footage, which spans the skies of South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah, was taken between spring and autumn 2013. The 47-year-old spent 40 nights scattered across the eight-month period sat near his camera to capture the clear footage. Randy from Kennebec, South Dakota has been shooting timelapse for over 4 years. (Photo by Randy Halverson/Barcroft Media)

“David Doubilet (born 28 November 1946) is a well known underwater photographer known primarily for his work published in National Geographic Magazine. He was born in New York and started taking photos underwater at the young age of 12. He started with a Brownie Hawkeye in a rubber anesthesiologist's bag to keep the water out of the camera. During his summer holidays, he spent his time along the New Jersey coast. He later worked as a diver and photographer for the Sandy Hook Marine Laboratories in New Jersey. He also spent much time in the Caribbean. While a dive instructor in the Bahamas he found his motivation to capture the beauty of the sea and everything in it”. – Wikipedia. (Photo by David Doubilet/National Geographic)

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)

This is the remarkable moment a group of skydivers performed a world record breaking feat in honour of their friend who died while skydiving. Known as a “Bigway”, the daring jump involves 57 people holding hands in a predetermined design as they hurtle towards the ground, head first. After making the first shape, the group then break away before coming back together to form a second shape all in a single skydive. Captured using a GoPro camera by Alaskan skydiver, Ben Nelson, 36, the topsy-turvy footage shows the adrenalin junkies soaring through the air at around 160mph before banding together twice in mid-air, making the stunt a world first. (Photo by Ben Nelson/Caters News)

Russian soldiers are pictured next to the Reichstag building in this undated photo taken May 1945 in Berlin. Some 70 years on from the Battle for Berlin, instrumental in the end of World War II, Reuters photographer Fabrizio Bensch unearthed pictures by Red Army photographer Georgiy Samsonov, showing his portrayal of a city laid siege. Bensch bought an exactly equivalent FED camera, a Soviet copy of the German-made Leica II, choosing to use black and white film to capture images of the self-same locations he detected his way to in modern-day Berlin. (Photo by Georgiy Samsonov/Reuters/MHM)

This might quite simply be the oddest skydive youll ever see – as a pair of daredevils simulate a rodeo ride as they hurtle towards earth. In the bizarre pictures, skydiver Robyn Young managed to straddle co-jumper Oliver Miller, as they plummet through the sky – and amazingly, pal Jeff Donohue caught it all on camera. The pair managed to perform the stunt before going their separate ways and pulling their parachute cords during the skydive over recibo, Puerto Rico, last month. Here: Robyn Young surfs on the back of Oliver Miller as they descend upon Arecibo, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Jeff Donohue/Caters News)

People enjoy the fine weather on the coast at Wembury during the first ever nationwide survey to map the location of the threatened and creatures on March 24, 2011 in near Plymouth, England. Often found on the coast, and particularly in the south west of England, the number of oil beetle species found in the UK has halved in the last 100 years and the survey will help establish the whereabouts of the remaining four species and boost efforts to secure their future. The survey is being launched today by Buglife: The Invertebrate Trust and the National Trust in partnership with Natural England and Oxford University Museum of Natural History. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Chinese security stands near a Long March 2F rocket carrying Tiangong-1, China's first unmanned space module, stands at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on September 28, 2011 in Jiuquan, Gansu Province of China. Tiangong-1,a small unmanned space lab, will be launched at 21:19 (Beijing time) on September 29, 2011, and will attempt a docking procedure with a Shenzhou 8 spacecraft later in the mission. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)