Here’s a treasure trove of our very favorites that proves that 2013 was, if nothing else, eye-catching
The Most Spectacular New Year’s Eve Fireworks Are Definitely In Dubai
Photo: Gerald Donovan
The USS Zumwalt Deck Looks Like a Part of an Imperial Star Destroyer
Photo: U.S. Navy
This Picture Makes Manhattan Look Like a Video Game
Photo: AirPano
How Scientists Observe the Sun In Every Possible Way
Photo: NASA/SDO/Goddard Space Flight Center
What Is Happening to This Aircraft Carrier?
Photo: Mass Communication Specialist Iain L. Stratton/U.S. Navy
Incredible Images of the Massive New Tunnels Hollowing New York City
Photo: Mass Communication Specialist Iain L. Stratton/U.S. Navy
An Instagram Foot Shot From the Tallest Building in the World Is the Best Instagram Foot Shot
Photo: Joe McNally
How to Jump Out of a Chinook in Style
Photo: Airman 1st Class Christopher Callaway/US Air Force
Saturn’s Harrowing Hurricane Is Even More Terrifying in Technicolor
Photo: NASA
Watch the World Trade Center’s Spire Rise 104 Stories into the Air
Photo: Michael Hession/Gizmodo
Convenience Food Looks Kinda Gross In Cross-Section
Photo: Beth Galton
Inside the Rain Room: Walking Through a Downpour Without Getting Wet
Photo: Michael Hession/Gizmodo
Is This a Real Picture or a Frame from a JJ Abrams Movie?
Photo: NASA
Holy Crap These Four Images Are Actually Just One Single Picture
Photo: Bela Borsodi
These Cross-Sections of Golf Balls Look Like They’re From Outer Space
Photo: James Friedman
What Happens When the US Navy Does a Donut in the Pacific Ocean
Photo: U.S. Navy
Mesmerizing Photo Collages Show Time Peeling Away In Layers
Photo: Fong Qi Wei
A Frog Got Too Close to a NASA Launch and, Well, This Happened
Photo: NASA
These Floating Globes of Ink and Oil Look Completely Unreal
Photo: Alberto Seveso
9 Breathtaking Images That Make the American West Look Utterly Alien
Photo: Reuben Wu
This Year’s Best Wildlife Photograph Required Serious Balls to Take
Photo: Udayan Rao Pawar/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013
Haunting Aerial Photographs of Drowned Villages in Canada
Photo: Louis Helbig
These incredible sky lights look like alien spaceships coming to Earth
Photo: Pauli Hänninen
You Need This Beautiful Machinery If You Want Atomic Precision
Photo: Brookhaven National Laboratory
Explore the Extraordinary, Glittering Infinity Rooms of Yayoi Kusama
Photo: Michael Hession/Gizmodo
This must be the greatest light show in the entire solar system
Photo: NASA
Is This a Storm or the Open Gates of Hell?
Photo: Anne Goforth
Whoa, Watch This Hotel in Munich Get Transformed in 88 Different Ways
Photo: Víctor Enrich
The Chinese Rover’s First Moon Photos Are Here
Photo: China National Space Administration
Antarctica Looks Like a Mystical Land Shrouded in Lenticular Ice
Photo: Michael Studinger/NASA
You’ve Never Seen GPS Data Look This Beautiful
Image by Eric Fischer/Mapbox
The World’s Tallest Waterslide Better End in the World’s Deepest Pool
Photo: Imgur
The Red Planet’s Deep Valleys in Kaleidoscope Color
Image: ESA
What the Hottest Place on Earth Looks Like
Satellite image: ESA
You’ve Never Seen a Cell Look Like This
Image by Mariela Loschi
It Looks Like You Could Climb This Celestial Tree Into Space
Image credit: Jerónimo Losada
This Aerial of NYC Makes One World Trade Look Like the Eye of Sauron
Photo: James Kastner
Perfectly Timed Pics of Airplanes Silhouetted Against the Moon
Photo: Sebastien Lebrigand
NASA’s Psychedelic Space Plane Is Glowing With Pure Science
Image Credit: NASA Langley/Preston Martin
Inside the Celestial Workshop That Makes the World’s Fastest Yachts
Photo credit: Benedict Redgrove
Okay, Who Invited the Osprey to the Rave?
Photo credit: Navy
This Terrifying Lightning Storm Is a Masterful, Miniature Fake
Photo credit: Matthew Albanese
What the World Would Look Like If You Could Actually See Wi-Fi Signals
Image credit: Nickolay Lamm
This Intense Real-Life F-35 Picture Looks Like an Iron Man 3 Frame
A Tiny Wasp Hitches a Ride on the Back of a Dragonfly
Image: Yuan Tung Shih/NHM
NASA’s 3D-Printed Rocket Injector Test: A Beautiful Inferno
Image Credit: NASA Glenn Research Center
A Perfectly Timed Bolt of Lightning Makes Fireworks Extra Awesome
Photo Credit: AJ192/Reddit
Microwaving a Highlighter Is So Dumb But Looks So Impossibly Cool
Photo credit: opticreason/Reddit
New York City’s New Subway Tunnel Looks Like a Level From Half-Life
Photo credit: MTA
The Ultimate Photoshoot Location
Photo credit: NASA
A Soldier Launching a Stinger Missile That Looks Like Lasers
Photo credit: Marine Corps
Bill Gates and Paul Allen Recreate Iconic 1981 Microsoft Photo
Photo credit: Paul Allen
A Horizontal Rainbow Makes For Easier Trips to Oz
Photo credit: Bertrand Kulik
Power-Desperate, Stranded Carnival Cruise Passengers Make a Rat-King Out of Phone Cords
Las Vegas From Space Is One Bright Hole Straight to Hell
Photo credit: Chris Hadfield
A Butterfly Under a Light Microscope
Image credit: David Millard/Olympus Bioscapes
This Awesome Image From Another Dimension Has Not Been Photoshopped
Image credit: Tackyshack
An Incredible Photo of a Colonial Base in an Alien World Called Earth
Photo credit: Antony Dubber
What Are the Odds of Capturing a Moment This Rare?
Photo credit: Scott Rinckenberger
It’s Hard to Believe That This Is Part of Our Planet
Image credit: ESA
Incredible Photo Shows the Peaceful Alien Beauty of a Horse Fetus
Photo credit: Tim Flach
Stunning Night Images of a Nuclear Ice Breaker in the Middle of Nowhere
This Mesmerizing Ai Weiwei Installation Is Made From 3,144 Bicycles
iOS Maps Atrocities? Nah, These Are Works of Art
Image credit: Trapcode
What Happens When You Soak a Negative in Gasoline and Light It on Fire
Image credit: Peter Hoffman
Behold the Gigantic 98-Foot-High Horse Heads Just Completed in Scotland
Photo credit: Brian Smith
Inside the Incredible, Complex Factories Where Satellites Are Born
Image credit: Greg White
Minotaur 1 Soars Into Space
Photo credit: Allison Stancil/NASA
Colorful Desert Ruins Consumed by Waves of Sand
Photo credit: Romain Veillon
Elaborate Dioramas Model the Apocalypse in Miniature
Photo credit: Lori Nix
The Creepiest Photographs of Things You Can Only See Under the Microscope
You Won’t Believe These Soaring Fighter Jets Are Just Toys
Photo credit: Dan Ledesma
The View From the Base of New York City’s Annual 9/11 Memorial
Photo credit: Mark Lenniham/AP
Flowers Shatter Like Glass Thanks to Liquid Nitrogen and a Gun
The Jaw-Dropping Winner of the Largest Sports Photography Contest Yet
Photo credit: Lorenz Holder/Illume
The Research Base At the End of the World
Photo: Reuben Wu
The Daya Bay Neutrino Detector’s Photomultiplier Tubes
Photo credit: Berkeley Lab
This High-Speed Digital Camera Can Freeze Objects Moving 7,500 MPH
Photo credit: MetroLaser
What 35MM Film Looks Like Developed in Ammonia
Photo credit: Matthew Cetta
What Manhattan Would Look Like If It Were in the Grand Canyon
The Best Nature Photo of the Year Is This Badass Polar Bear
Photo credit: Paul Souders
These Incredible Light Columns Are Caused by Ice Crystals
Photo credit: Thomas Kast
Trial by Ice at GE’s Engine Testing Site in Winnipeg, Canada
Photo credit: GE
Helicopter Incredibly Rescues a Man Trapped on a Crane After Explosion
Photo credit: @ChrisInKingston
This Is What the Universe Would Look Like If It Were a Tiny Model
Photo credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Assembly and processing by Robert Gendler.
You Won’t Believe How Accurate GE’s New CT Scanner Is
Image credit: GE
Every Second in Star Wars IV Arranged by How Bright It Is
Image credit: Jason Salavon
Holy Wow, You Can Actually Swim Like Scrooge McDuck in this Bank Vault
Photo credit: James Edition Auction
The First Video in History to Capture the Moon Orbiting Earth
A Fennec Trots Through the Desert
Photo by José Mingorance
Behold the Centrifuge That Looks Like a Laser Cannon
Photo credit: Sandia National Laboratories
Largest True-Color Image of the Sky Ever Is Made of 37,000 Photos
Image credit: Nick Risinger
This Awesome Photo Hasn’t Been Digitally Modified
Photo Credit: JeeYoung Lee
This Beautiful Orchid Is a Deadly Predator
Photo credit: James O’Hanlon
This Museum Is Actually an Unbelievable Gingerbread House
Photo credit: Caitlin Levin and Henry Hargreaves for Dylan’s Candy Bar
The Grand Canyon Completely Flooded by Clouds in “Once-in-a-Lifetime” Event
Photo credit: Grand Canyon National Park
Is There an Alien Base in the Heart of This Romanian Salt Mine or What?
Photo credit: Salina Turda
What the World Would Look Like If You Could See Cell Phone Signals
Image credit: Nickolay Lamm
The New Home of the Guandong Plastic Exchange
Photo credit: Shenzhen Daily
Source: gizmodo