Frozen Gallery

Frost-covered trees and Glastonbury Tor

Frost-covered trees and Glastonbury Tor. Hoar frost covering three willow (Salix sp.) trees in a field on a farm. St Michael's Tower can be seen on the summit of Glastonbury Tor in the background. Hoar frost results when heat is lost through radiation into the open sky on cold clear nights, causing objects to become colder than the surrounding air. This temperature difference causes the water in the warmer air to condense on the colder objects and then freeze into small ice crystals. Photographed in Somerset, England, UK, in December

© DUNCAN SHAW/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

The Winter Egg, 1913 (quartz, platinum, orthoclase, diamonds

CH463083 The Winter Egg, 1913 (quartz, platinum, orthoclase, diamonds, gold & demantoid) (see also 463082) by Holmstrom, Albert (1846-1920); height: 10.2 cm; Private Collection; (add.info.: designed be Alma Theresia Pihl for Faberge; most expensive easter egg ever made;); Photo A© Christie's Images; Russian, out of copyright

© © Christie's Images / Bridgeman Images

Earth

Earth. Satellite image of the Earth, centred on Antarctica. The South Pole is at centre. Water is blue, vegetation is green, arid areas are brown, and snow and ice are white. Both land and ocean floor topography are shown. Antarctica is a frozen continent, permanently covered in snow and ice. Surrounding Antarctica are the waters of the Southern Ocean, mixing with the Atlantic Ocean (upper centre), the Pacific Ocean (lower left) and the Indian Ocean (centre right). Around the edge of the hemisphere is New Zealand (lower centre), Australia (lower right), and the southern parts of Africa (upper right, the island of Madagascar is also seen) and South America (upper left)

© PLANETOBSERVER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY