We've seen some incredible images this year. Aerial shots of Dubai, crystalline ice on the open sea, moments of war, portraits of bugs. From our own massive image cache, we selected 100 of the most fantastic photos from 2012.

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This Girl Snuck Into a Russian Military Rocket Factory

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The Best Solar Eclipse Photos

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When You Swallow 35MM Film, Beautiful Things Happen

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The Luckiest Kid on Earth (or Hoth) Just Got an AT-AT Bunk Bed

The Amazing Artist Who Lets the Real World Paint His Pictures

You'll Never Believe These Stunning Photos of Snow are Real

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Incredible Photograph Captures Exact Moment of Tank Shell Hitting Against Syrian Rebels

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This Company Builds Some Of the Greatest Playgrounds On Earth

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Dubai Is Officially the Craziest City in the World Now

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Syrian Rebel Posts Sniper's Camera Phone Photos

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Ethereal Insect Photographs Will Cure Your Phobia of Bugs

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Is This Insane Low Pass Flyby the Craziest Thing You're Going To See Today? Most Probably Yes



This Swordfish Pierced the Skin of a Deep Sea Submarine
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The World's Largest Wood Stockpile Is Absolutely Insane



An Unbelievable Picture of Eight Lightning Bolts Striking San Francisco at the Same Time

Artist Treats San Francisco Beach Like an Enormous Etch-A-Sketch

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This 1960s Skater Looks Like a Time Traveler From 2012
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Mayan Pyramid Fires Energy Beam Into the Sky or iPhone Sensor Glitch? YOU PICK!



Perhaps the Most Striking Photo Taken in North Korea Last Year
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This Image of a Soldier Walking On Air Is Simply Awesome

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There Is a Spaceship Hidden In This Image of Mars
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Awesome Image of Airplane Formation Near Mount Fuji Just Needs Godzilla To Be Perfect

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This Devilish Alligator Has Not Been Photoshopped
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How You Sign a $100 Million Contract These Days: With an iPad

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The Terrible Colorado Fire Scar Seen From Space

Here's Looking at You, Kid-To Kill You

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Amazing Image of Hurricane Isaac at Midnight
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Look at These Two F-18s Surrounded By Fire

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Unemployed Astronauts

San Francisco's Iconic Yahoo! Neon Sign Is Gone

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Secret Underground Bunker Is Full of World War Weapons and Military Vehicles
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Can You Find the Two Camouflaged Commandos in This Photo Before They Shoot You?



If Only Boarding a Real Plane Was This Pleasant
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Lil Wayne Wearing $1 Million Beats by Dre Headphones Is a Diamond Studded Mess

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This Is the Biggest River Anywhere Outside Earth
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Did You Know that These Strange Fields of Ice Flowers Exist At Sea?

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This Mind Blowing Image of the Eclipse Can't Possibly Be Real
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Stunning Image of US Navy Nuclear Supercarrier Skidding Like Crazy Over the Atlantic



Artist Captures the Beauty of Disintegration via Pellet Gun
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Iconic Photos Aren't So Iconic When Left Uncropped

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Badass Chicks In Israel Don't Go To the Beach Without Their Assault Rifles

These Are the First Images from the Mars Curiosity Rover

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The Largest Mirror In the World Is So Big That You Can See It From Space
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Artist Carves Bowling Balls Into Unreadable Tomes

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The Most Expensive Plane of All Time Takes Its First Gorgeous Night Flight

How to Play Video Games While Also Playing with Your Girlfriend

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This Is the Hottest Kiss Ever Photographed, Right?

How Famous Movie Posters Look From Behind

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The Bow Size of the Navy's New Nuclear Supercarrier Defies Belief
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This Mindblowing Photo of a World Map In a Water Drop Is Real



This Is Objectively the Best Prom Photo Ever

Can You See the Man Hidden in These Pandas?

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Farming Sulfur on the Edge of an Acid-Spewing Volcano Is Just as Miserable as It Sounds
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Who Knew Getting Stitches in Your Eyeball Could Be So Beautiful?

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is Is What It Looks Like When Fighters Fly Directly At You in Anger
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The Coast Guard Sure Blew the Hell Out of the Japanese Ghost Ship



Robot Face Painter Is Somehow Even More Terrifying Than Clowns (Updated: It's a Prank!)
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Awesomely Perfect and Refreshing Example of Surface Tension

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How Is This Man Floating in the Air?
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This Photo of the Storm That Hit New York Today Is Insanely Scary



These Incredible Collages Are Like Standing on Top of the World
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A Photo of the Most Elite Pilots on Earth Looking Incredibly Badass

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The F-35 Shows Its Missile Teeth for the First Time Ever

The Greatest Secret Booze Stash in The World

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The Coolest Air Interception I Have Ever Seen
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Air Force Accidentally Fills Entire Hangar with Foam



What It's Really Like to Be a Fly On a Wall
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This Is What Happens When Barbie Dolls Turn Into Meth Heads

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This Photo Really Shows How Impossibly Huge the Airbus A380 Is
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This Is What the Death of a Star Really Looks Like

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The Most Amazing Warehouse I Have Ever Seen

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Ten Pictures That Make Earth Look Like Art
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First Color 360-Degree Panorama Sent By Curiosity Rover Shows No Sailors Fighting In the Dance Hall

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This Gross Piece of Crap May Be the Key to a New Technological Future
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All Fireworks Should Look as Spectacular as This

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The Ultimate Photobomb
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How Can This Aircraft Supercarrier Be In the Middle of a Desert Storm?

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There Are Two F-16s Hiding in This Picture
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These Beautiful Chinese Ink Drawings Are Really Amazing Photographs

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This Explosion Was So Damn Close That the Shockwave Dusted Off Some Marines
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This Is the Mess Left by Curiosity's Cruise Stage



The Single Most Awesome Photographer at the Olympics
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Would We Ever See a Scene Like This In Our Lifetime?

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A Ghostly Snake on Mars
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Retired Wind Turbines Make For Fantastic Playground Equipment



NASA Captures Shuttle's Capitol Hill Flyby With—What Else—Instagram (Updated)
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Here's $420 Million of Your Tax Dollars Crashed and Burned

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The Avengers Inside Hopper's Iconic Nighthawks Painting
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The First Look at Mars' Ocean

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If You Think Stock Images Are Bad Nowadays, Look at the Ones From the 90s
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This Is What It Looks Like When You Print iPhone Photos the Old Fashioned Way

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This Toilet Is the Perfect Place To Sit When Perched On a Glass Floor Over a 15 Story Shaft
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This Is What Three Years of One Person's GPS Data Looks Like

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Real Lasers on Actual Sharks
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This Beautiful Retro Airplane Porn Is My New Desktop Background

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How the Hell Did This MacBook Pro End Up Like a Crumpled Paper Page?
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A Shark Without Its Skin Looks Even Scarier Than A Regular Shark

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The Italian Sunken Ship From Space Looks Surreal
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Stunning First Images From the World's Most Powerful Digital Camera

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These Creepy Dolls Are Actually Real Humans

This Beach Is Made from the Blood and Bodies of 200 Tons of Dead Sardines

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This Is What Shooting a Gun Underwater Looks Like
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Awesome Photos of Musical Instruments' Interiors Make Me Want to Live In Them