Gallery: Wired Science's Top Image Galleries of the Year

  • Planned Cities Seen From Space
    01

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    Many of our most popular posts are image galleries, and this year our readers favorite collections included microscope photos, doomsday scenarios, auroras and lots of images of Earth from space. The satellite image above of Brasilia is part of the most popular post of the year. <p2>__Above:__Strange, Beautiful and Unexpected: Planned Cities Seen From Space ----------------------------------------------------------------- I think it's safe to say that our readers like looking at [images of Earth from space](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/tag/earth-from-space/) almost as much as we do. Satellite imagery was the subject of four of Wired Science's 10 most popular galleries of 2012, with this gallery of planned cities topping the list. *[See the full gallery](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/11/planned-cities-from-space/).* *Image: NASA/USGS* </p2>
  • Aqua Satellites Incredible Images
    02

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    10 Years of Aqua Satellite’s Incredible Images of Earth From Space ------------------------------------------------------------------ One of the stars of NASA's fleet of satellites is Aqua, named for its ability to measure water vapor in the atmosphere, water in the oceans, as well as ice and snow. As of May, Aqua's six instruments had been functioning perfectly for 10 years, gathering 29 million gigabytes of data in that time. This collection of some of Aqua's most beautiful images, including the one above of Mt. Etna erupting, was our second most popular gallery of the year. *[See the full gallery](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/05/aqua-satellite-anniversary/).* *Image: NASA*
  • Best Microscope Photos of the Year
    03

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    Incredibly Small: Best Microscope Photos of the Year ---------------------------------------------------- For years, some of our most popular galleries have been collections of photomicrography, and this year the winners of the 38th annual Nikon Small World made our list. Part of the appeal of these photos is undoubtedly that they show us things we can't normally see. Another part is that the images are beautiful, informative, [strange and mysterious](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/nikon-small-world-mysterious-design/) all at the same time. This year's winners include super-close-ups of garlic (above), snail fossils, stinging nettle, bat embryos, bone cancer and a ladybug. *[See the full gallery](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/nikon-small-world-winners/).* *Image courtesy of Nikon Small World*
  • Rare Beautiful and Disturbing Objects
    04

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    Rare, Beautiful and Disturbing Objects From the National Library of Medicine ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Buried in the National Library of Medicine's collection of more than 17 million items are some pretty amazing, largely unseen objects from around the world. Our Apr. 2 gallery of our favorite images from the book *Hidden Treasure* was a hit with our readers. *[See the full gallery](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/library-of-medicine-gallery/).* *Images courtesy of Blast Books, New York, from the book [Hidden Treasure: The National Library of Medicine](http://www.blastbooks.com/hidden_treasure.html), edited by Michael Sappol. Captions adapted from the book.*
  • The Nighttime Earth From Space
    05

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    The Nighttime Earth From Space Like You've Never Seen It Before --------------------------------------------------------------- The Earth at night looks more beautiful than it ever has before in this Dec. 5 gallery of new images from [NASA's fantastic Suomi NPP satellite](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/amazing-aurora-suomi-satellite/). The super-high-resolution images are made possible by a new type of infrared sensor on the satellite, known as the "day-night band." The sensor has six times better spatial resolution and 250 times better resolution of lighting levels than anything that came before it. *[See the full gallery](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/12/suomi-satellite-night-lights-gallery/).* *Image: NASA/NOAA*
  • Envisat's 10th Anniversary
    06

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    10 Years of Gorgeous Images of Earth From Space ----------------------------------------------- On Mar. 1, the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite passed its 10 year mark after more than 50,000 trips around the Earth. We celebrated the day with a collection of some of our favorite of this great satellite's beautiful images. *[See the full gallery](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/envisat-anniversary/).* *Image: ESA*
  • Scientific Doomsday
    07

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    Scientific Doomsday: Ways the World Could Actually End ------------------------------------------------------ With all the talk of the end of the world 2012 was sure to bring, on Jan. 17 we decided to give our readers something a little more real to worry about. From supervolcanoes to asteroid impacts to killer viruses, this gallery of scientific doomsday scenarios was a good break from Mayan calendar speculation. *[See the full gallery](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/scientific-doomsday-scenarios/).* *Image: Don Davis/NASA*
  • Curiosity Rover's First Self Portraits
    08

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    Curiosity Rover’s Self-Portraits Transport You to Mars ------------------------------------------------------ We've seen much more impressive images sent back to Earth from Curiosity, but on Aug. 17, this collection of some of the first photos from Mars captivated our readers. Something about the first shots that contained parts of the rover actually touching the surface of Mars made the situation seem more real. *[See the full gallery](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/mars-curiosity-rover-self-portraits/).* *Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech*
  • SolarStormFueled Auroras
    09

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    Solar-Storm-Fueled Auroras Make for Awesome Backyard Photography ---------------------------------------------------------------- This year, the sun began waking up after several quiet years and bombarded the Earth with two consecutive solar storms in January. Many nights of spectacular auroras were seen from backyards around the Northern Hemisphere, and this collection of images of the lights was among our readers' favorites. *[See the full gallery](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/northern-lights-gallery/).* *Image: [Bjørn Jørgensen](http://www.arcticphoto.no)*
  • Humans on Mars
    10

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    Humans on Mars: The Craziest, Weirdest, and Most Plausible Plans in History --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once Curiosity rover made it to Mars, the imagination naturally wandered to the possibility of people getting there some day. We took a look at some of the most interesting plans humans have made to send representatives to the Red Planet in this Aug. 9 gallery. *[See the full gallery](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/humans-to-mars/).* *Image: NASA/Ames Research Center*
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