Pilot Ron Candiloro breaks through the sound barrier in an F/A-18 Homet fighter plane over the Pacific Ocean on July 7. The cloud ball effect is caused when forward sound waves squeeze moisture in the air.




Black sun - the last solar eclipse of the millennium is seen in this multiple exposure photograph as it appeared from the famous Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug 11.




Falling for colour - hundreds of cars jam a road in Nikko, Japan on Nov 3, as drivers slow down to admire the colourfully tinted leaves of autumn




Singers perform on a giant stage on Lake Constance during a rehearsal of Giuseppe Verdi's opera 'Ein Maskenball' on July 15. The design of the stage in the lake shows 'Death' reading the book of life.