Audrey Tautou attends “La Delicatesse” Paris Premiere on December 13, 2011 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

The Glastonbury Grace Cup, a rare carved oak tankard is and an 18th century replica in silver gilt (L), is held at Glastonbury Abbey for the first time in 125 years on December 12, 2011 in Glastonbury, England. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Photographer Maurizio Pignotti, 46, spends all night in freezing temperatures painstakingly shooting the breathtaking crystal-clear stars. He uses a technique where he merges together anywhere between 80 and 450 shots to create what he describes as a “rainbow of stars”. Space-lover Maurizio, captures the star trails on the borders of the Adriatic Sea – including the Sibillini Mountains National Park, the Conero National Park, and the Gargano National Park. (Photo by Maurizio Pignotti/Caters News)

Artist Victor Nunes combines every-day objects with simple illustrations to turn them into pictures of faces, animals and other playful scenes. His images invite us to look at the world differently and find creative images in our surroundings. Nunes’ art is a great example of pareidolia, which is our propensity to give meaning to random objects (like in this post about seeing faces in random objects). It’s the reason why we associate a smiley face with a human face and why some of Nunes’ pieces of popcorn or bread resemble faces to us.

Lake Assal is a crater lake in central-western Djibouti. It is located at the western end of Gulf of Tadjoura in the Tadjoura Region, touching Dikhil Region, at the top of the Great Rift Valley, some 120 km (75 mi) west of Djibouti city. Lake Assal is a saline lake which lies 155 m (509 ft) below sea level in the Afar Triangle, making it the lowest point on land in Africa and the third-lowest land depression on Earth after the Dead Sea and Sea of Galilee.

The illustrations created by Joao Carvalho are not just simple 3D drawings. By making it look as if various characters were drawn on regular note book paper, Joao fools our minds into thinking that the flat objects we see on the picture are actually 3-dimentional. To create these pieces of art, Joao first draws the lines of the “notebook” paper already bent, as if they stretch over the object that is about to be drawn. Then he applies shading and his masterpiece is all done! By looking at his pictures it is almost impossible to view them not as simple 2D drawings, but as real 3D objects. (Photo by Joao Desenhos)

Hot air balloons fly over the sky in Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand, December 6, 2014. The two-day International Balloon festival 2014 featuring balloon pilots from Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Britain, and Czech Republic is held on December 06-07 2014 to celebrate Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 87th birthday and also aimed to promote the tourism industry in Chiang Mai northern city. (Photo by Pongmanat Tasiri/EPA)