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.
This Girl Snuck Into a Russian Military Rocket Factory
The Best Solar Eclipse Photos
When You Swallow 35MM Film, Beautiful Things Happen
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
Incredible Photograph Captures Exact Moment of Tank Shell Hitting Against Syrian Rebels
This Company Builds Some Of the Greatest Playgrounds On Earth
Dubai Is Officially the Craziest City in the World Now
Syrian Rebel Posts Sniper's Camera Phone Photos
Ethereal Insect Photographs Will Cure Your Phobia of Bugs
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
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
This 1960s Skater Looks Like a Time Traveler From 2012
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
This Image of a Soldier Walking On Air Is Simply Awesome
There Is a Spaceship Hidden In This Image of Mars
Awesome Image of Airplane Formation Near Mount Fuji Just Needs Godzilla To Be Perfect
This Devilish Alligator Has Not Been Photoshopped
How You Sign a $100 Million Contract These Days: With an iPad
The Terrible Colorado Fire Scar Seen From Space
Here's Looking at You, Kid-To Kill You
Amazing Image of Hurricane Isaac at Midnight
Look at These Two F-18s Surrounded By Fire
San Francisco's Iconic Yahoo! Neon Sign Is Gone
Secret Underground Bunker Is Full of World War Weapons and Military Vehicles
Can You Find the Two Camouflaged Commandos in This Photo Before They Shoot You?
If Only Boarding a Real Plane Was This Pleasant
Lil Wayne Wearing $1 Million Beats by Dre Headphones Is a Diamond Studded Mess
This Is the Biggest River Anywhere Outside Earth
Did You Know that These Strange Fields of Ice Flowers Exist At Sea?
This Mind Blowing Image of the Eclipse Can't Possibly Be Real
Stunning Image of US Navy Nuclear Supercarrier Skidding Like Crazy Over the Atlantic
Artist Captures the Beauty of Disintegration via Pellet Gun
Iconic Photos Aren't So Iconic When Left Uncropped
Badass Chicks In Israel Don't Go To the Beach Without Their Assault Rifles
These Are the First Images from the Mars Curiosity Rover
The Largest Mirror In the World Is So Big That You Can See It From Space
Artist Carves Bowling Balls Into Unreadable Tomes
The Most Expensive Plane of All Time Takes Its First Gorgeous Night Flight
How to Play Video Games While Also Playing with Your Girlfriend
This Is the Hottest Kiss Ever Photographed, Right?
How Famous Movie Posters Look From Behind
The Bow Size of the Navy's New Nuclear Supercarrier Defies Belief
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?
Farming Sulfur on the Edge of an Acid-Spewing Volcano Is Just as Miserable as It Sounds
Who Knew Getting Stitches in Your Eyeball Could Be So Beautiful?
is Is What It Looks Like When Fighters Fly Directly At You in Anger
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!)
Awesomely Perfect and Refreshing Example of Surface Tension
How Is This Man Floating in the Air?
This Photo of the Storm That Hit New York Today Is Insanely Scary
These Incredible Collages Are Like Standing on Top of the World
A Photo of the Most Elite Pilots on Earth Looking Incredibly Badass
The F-35 Shows Its Missile Teeth for the First Time Ever
The Greatest Secret Booze Stash in The World
The Coolest Air Interception I Have Ever Seen
Air Force Accidentally Fills Entire Hangar with Foam
What It's Really Like to Be a Fly On a Wall
This Is What Happens When Barbie Dolls Turn Into Meth Heads
This Photo Really Shows How Impossibly Huge the Airbus A380 Is
This Is What the Death of a Star Really Looks Like
The Most Amazing Warehouse I Have Ever Seen
Ten Pictures That Make Earth Look Like Art
First Color 360-Degree Panorama Sent By Curiosity Rover Shows No Sailors Fighting In the Dance Hall
This Gross Piece of Crap May Be the Key to a New Technological Future
All Fireworks Should Look as Spectacular as This
How Can This Aircraft Supercarrier Be In the Middle of a Desert Storm?
There Are Two F-16s Hiding in This Picture
These Beautiful Chinese Ink Drawings Are Really Amazing Photographs
This Explosion Was So Damn Close That the Shockwave Dusted Off Some Marines
This Is the Mess Left by Curiosity's Cruise Stage
The Single Most Awesome Photographer at the Olympics
Would We Ever See a Scene Like This In Our Lifetime?
Retired Wind Turbines Make For Fantastic Playground Equipment
NASA Captures Shuttle's Capitol Hill Flyby With—What Else—Instagram (Updated)
Here's $420 Million of Your Tax Dollars Crashed and Burned
The Avengers Inside Hopper's Iconic Nighthawks Painting
The First Look at Mars' Ocean
If You Think Stock Images Are Bad Nowadays, Look at the Ones From the 90s
This Is What It Looks Like When You Print iPhone Photos the Old Fashioned Way
This Toilet Is the Perfect Place To Sit When Perched On a Glass Floor Over a 15 Story Shaft
This Is What Three Years of One Person's GPS Data Looks Like
This Beautiful Retro Airplane Porn Is My New Desktop Background
How the Hell Did This MacBook Pro End Up Like a Crumpled Paper Page?
A Shark Without Its Skin Looks Even Scarier Than A Regular Shark
The Italian Sunken Ship From Space Looks Surreal
Stunning First Images From the World's Most Powerful Digital Camera
These Creepy Dolls Are Actually Real Humans
This Beach Is Made from the Blood and Bodies of 200 Tons of Dead Sardines
This Is What Shooting a Gun Underwater Looks Like
DISCUSSION
I wasn't very astonished by a picture of a kid in his pj's in bed. Maybe I have a higher threshold of astonishment than the author.