Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, is locked under the rule of extremists from the Islamic State group trying to purge it of everything they see as contradicting their stark vision of Islam. A trove of photographs now housed at the Library of Congress offers a glimpse of a different Mosul – before wars, insurgency, sectarian strife and now radicals' rule. The scenes were taken in the autumn of 1932 by staff from the American Colony Photo Department during a visit to Iraq at the end of the British mandate. (Photo by AP Photo)

The tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation Carina. (Photo by Reuters/NASA)

Artist Robert Mickelson is an expert sculptor whose medium of choice happens to be glass. There's something so pure and serene about glass. Perhaps it's the material's transparency coupled with its fragility. Whatever it may be, Mickelson knows how to accentuate the element's most appealing qualities. Each of his life-like sculptural pieces exude realism with a refined quality.

A woman carries a 'Climate Clock' as activists mark the start of Climate Week in New York during a demonstration calling for the U.S. government to take action on climate change and reject the use of fossil fuels in New York City, New York, U.S., September 17, 2023. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

The M25 Fire Spinners practise their skills along the Thames path at Runnymede in Surrey, UK on February 22, 2025. (Photo by Kevin Jay/Picture Exclusive)

A visitor stands near an art installation portraying China's President Xi Jinping, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin during the ARTSUBS exhibition in Surabaya, Indonesia on August 2, 2025. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo)

A girl watches an acrobatic performance at the Longtan park as the Chinese Lunar New Year, which welcomes the Year of the Monkey, is celebrated in Beijing, China February 9, 2016. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

M42 Subtle V1 cropped. One of the most well-known astronomical objects in our universe is the Orion Nebula and this image depicts the wider region of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex that is its home. This complex also includes another popular target for astrophotographers, the Horsehead Nebula, as well as Barnard’s Loop and the Running Man Nebula, which can be seen to the left of this photograph. (Photo by Patrick Gilliland)