This image taken by the WorldView-1 satellite on 17 January 2012 shows the cruise ship Costa Concordia, which capsized after hitting rocks off the coast of Isola del Giglio, Italy. The ship's captain may face multiple charges of manslaughter after 32 people died in the disaster.

A ruptured oil pipeline on fire sends thick smoke over the city of Homs in Syria in this image from DigitalGlobe taken on 15 February. The pipeline, running through the rebel-held neighbourhood of Baba Amr, had been shelled by government troops for the previous 12 days.

GeoEye released this 1m resolution satellite image of Harrisburg, Illinois, which was taken on 1 March 2012, the day after a Level 4 tornado tore its way through the town. The image clearly shows the tornado’s path from west to east, and the damage it caused to buildings and structures, including the Harrisburg Medical Center.

This photo from DigitalGlobe shows the Olympic Park in London on 24 July 2012. More than 10,000 athletes competed at this third London games, which were hailed by many as a roaring success. But the event was also marked by controversies over ticketing and security.

In July, an iceberg about twice the size of Manhattan broke away from the Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland. Thousands of these "calving" events occur in Greenland each year. This iceberg was about half the size of one that broke away from the same glacier in 2010.

The camera aboard a US spacecraft orbiting Mars captured this image of Nasa's Curiosity rover, as it parachuted down to the surface of the Red Planet on 6 August. The one-tonne, $2.5bn machine is the most sophisticated rover to ever land on Mars.

It looks a bit like a ball of cotton wool on a slice of Parma ham, but this is actually an image of a cloud hanging over Japan's Mount Fuji, snapped by DigitalGlobe's WorldView 2 satellite on 20 September.

The space shuttle Endeavour was captured on 20 September in this satellite image as it made its way across the US on the back of a 747. The shuttle was en route to its new home at the California Science Center near downtown Los Angeles.

This image taken by Nasa's GOES satellite on 29 October shows Hurricane Sandy churning off the east coast of the US. By this time, Sandy had already claimed more than 50 lives in the Caribbean.

This comparison of images from 7 September 2010 (L) and 31 October 2012 (R), shows heavy damage to the Casino Beach Pier and Amusement Park in Seaside Heights, New Jersey after Storm Sandy. The storm was blamed for more than 100 deaths in the US, and many more elsewhere.