Hot air balloons take to the skies over Bristol city centre on August 6, 2012 in Bristol, England. The early morning flight of over twenty balloons over the city was organised as a curtain raiser for the four-day Bristol International Balloon Fiesta which starts on Thursday. Now in its 34th year, the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is Europe's largest annual hot air balloon event in the city that is seen by many balloonists as the home of modern ballooning. (Photo by Matt Cardy)

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)

“Masked gunmen publicly shot dead six suspected collaborators with Israel at a large Gaza City intersection Tuesday, witnesses said. An Associated Press reporter saw a mob surrounding five of the bloodied corpses shortly after the killing”. – Karin Laub via Associated Press

Photo: Palestinian gunmen ride motorcycles as they drag the body of a man, who was suspected of working for Israel, in Gaza City November 20, 2012. (Photo by Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

Claire Robertson from Scottish Ballet, poses dressed as the Good Snow Flake inside a life size snow globe on Buchanan Street during a promotion for Scottish Ballet’s festive production of The Nutcracker on November 20, 2012 in Glasgow, Scotland. The Nutcracker opens at the Theatre Royal on December the 8th, the production delves deep into the darker reaches of Hoffmann’s original tale in a fresh and vivid retelling of the famous Christmas story. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell)

A christmas teddy bear is wheeled along on a trolley at the Steiff stuffed toy factory on November 23, 2012 in Giengen an der Brenz, Germany. Founded by seamstress Margarethe Steiff in 1880, Steiff has been making stuffed teddy bears since the early 20th century ever since her nephew Richard Steiff exhibited the first commercially produced teddy bear in Europe in 1903. Teddy bears are among the most popular children's toys and the company is hoping for a strong Christmas season. (Photo by Thomas Niedermueller)

A woman takes a picture with her mobile phone from Caviahue, Neuquen province, Argentina, some 1500 km southwest of Buenos Aires, of the Copahue volcano spewing ashes on December 22, 2012. The authorities of Chile and Argentina issued yellow alerts due to the eruption of the Copahue volcano, placed in the border between both countries. (Photo by Antonio Huglich/AFP Photo)

Santa, a dog abandoned two days before Christmas, is looked after by Charlene Gunner at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home on December 27, 2012 in London, England. The home was founded 150 years ago and has rescued, reunited and rehomed over three million dogs and cats. The average stay for a dog is just 28 days although some stay much longer. Around 550 dogs and 200 cats are provided refuge by Battersea at any given time. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid)

China has sent its first woman into space on a mission to dock with an orbiting station, the latest step in an ambitious programme to go to the moon and on to Mars.

Photo: China's first female astronaut Liu Yang, waves during a sending off ceremony before she departs for the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft rocket launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, China, Saturday, June 16, 2012. China will send its first woman and two other astronauts into space Saturday to work on a temporary space station for about a week, in a key step toward becoming only the third nation to set up a permanent base in orbit. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)