Filed to: Best of 2012

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 Swordfish Pierced the Skin of a Deep Sea Submarine



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



This 1960s Skater Looks Like a Time Traveler From 2012



Perhaps the Most Striking Photo Taken in North Korea Last Year



There Is a Spaceship Hidden In This Image of Mars



This Devilish Alligator Has Not Been Photoshopped



The Terrible Colorado Fire Scar Seen From Space



Amazing Image of Hurricane Isaac at Midnight



Unemployed Astronauts



Secret Underground Bunker Is Full of World War Weapons and Military Vehicles



If Only Boarding a Real Plane Was This Pleasant



This Is the Biggest River Anywhere Outside Earth



This Mind Blowing Image of the Eclipse Can't Possibly Be Real



Artist Captures the Beauty of Disintegration via Pellet Gun



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



The Largest Mirror In the World Is So Big That You Can See It From Space



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



This Is the Hottest Kiss Ever Photographed, Right?



The Bow Size of the Navy's New Nuclear Supercarrier Defies Belief



This Is Objectively the Best Prom Photo Ever



Farming Sulfur on the Edge of an Acid-Spewing Volcano Is Just as Miserable as It Sounds



is Is What It Looks Like When Fighters Fly Directly At You in Anger



Robot Face Painter Is Somehow Even More Terrifying Than Clowns (Updated: It's a Prank!)



How Is This Man Floating in the Air?



These Incredible Collages Are Like Standing on Top of the World



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



The Coolest Air Interception I Have Ever Seen



What It's Really Like to Be a Fly On a Wall



This Photo Really Shows How Impossibly Huge the Airbus A380 Is




Ten Pictures That Make Earth Look Like Art



This Gross Piece of Crap May Be the Key to a New Technological Future



The Ultimate Photobomb



There Are Two F-16s Hiding in This Picture



This Explosion Was So Damn Close That the Shockwave Dusted Off Some Marines



The Single Most Awesome Photographer at the Olympics



A Ghostly Snake on Mars



NASA Captures Shuttle's Capitol Hill Flyby With—What Else—Instagram (Updated)



The Avengers Inside Hopper's Iconic Nighthawks Painting



If You Think Stock Images Are Bad Nowadays, Look at the Ones From the 90s



This Toilet Is the Perfect Place To Sit When Perched On a Glass Floor Over a 15 Story Shaft



Real Lasers on Actual Sharks



How the Hell Did This MacBook Pro End Up Like a Crumpled Paper Page?



The Italian Sunken Ship From Space Looks Surreal



These Creepy Dolls Are Actually Real Humans



This Is What Shooting a Gun Underwater Looks Like