Big Pictures

A cold February day, approaching Toronto Downtown on the Toronto Island Ferry. Make sure to check out the video below (preferably in full-screen) for the full effect. After posting these side by side I noticed how different the colour...

How do planets form?

Barcelona capped an incredible year with a championship in the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi. Barca supporters already had plenty to cheer about with the team's success in Europe this year before the UAE triumph, and then the stellar Lionel Messi captured the FIFA World Player of the Year award. Barca took the final by topping Argentina side Estudiantes 2-1. ( 19 photos total) Performers parade during the opening ceremony of the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi December 9. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Another busy week in the sports world unfolded and I'm struggling to keep up. In addition to this week's regular post, I'll try to give you a look at the South East Asian Games from Vientiane, Laos and the soccer Club World Cup from the United Arab Emirates. And on Thursday I'll bring you part three (of four) of the 100 Best Sports Photographs of 2009 series. ( 28 photos total) Santa and his myriad minions have many sporting guises to check who's been naughty or nice, including (clockwise from top left) a taekwondo student in Suining, China, shopping racers in Lima, a jet skier on the Rhine River in Duesseldorf, and reindeer in the Santa Speedo Race in Boston. (REUTERS/Stringer) (REUTERS/Enrique Castro-Mendivil) (REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay) (David Ryan/Globe Staff)

In the center of star-forming region

Bike stands on Princess street....

Hi everyone, sorry about there being no entry for today - to be honest, I woke up this morning feeling rather sick, and have spent most of the day in bed already. Hopefully I will have something for you all on Wednesday. In the meantime, don't forget about the still-updating Hubble Advent Calendar. Take care, -Alan

Reading while waiting for the streetcar on King Street at Sherbourne....

If you went outside at exactly the same time every day and took a

Aurora Shimmer, Meteor Flash

Bike seen on Ontario street....

At least 34 meteors are included in

Seen on Mill Street....

Call it what you will, "the noughties", "the two-thousands" or something else, the first decade of the 21st century (2000-2009) is now over. Looking back on the past ten years through news photographs, it becomes clear that it was a dramatic, often brutal decade. Natural disasters, terrorist attacks and wars were by far the most dominant theme. Ten years ago, Bill Clinton was ending his final term in office, very few had ever heard of Osama bin Laden, the Taliban ruled Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein still ruled Iraq - all that and much more has changed in the intervening time. It's really an impossible task to sum up ten years in a handful of photographs, but below is my best attempt at a look back at the last decade - feel free to let me know what I missed in the comments below. (50 photos total) Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein in downtown Baghdad, in this April 9, 2003 file photo. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)

Brick wall on Queen street east....

Monstrously bright, this