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Subscribe to RSSThe moon rises behind the skyline of New York's Lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center as people stand along the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. on Oct. 1, 2012.
See more PhotoBlog posts about the moon
Gary Hershorn / Reuters
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Wheelchair-bound photographer strives to keep shooting
Wheelchair-bound Palestinian freelance photographer Moamen Qreiqea is helped by his brother at his home in Gaza City, Oct. 1, 2012.
Suhaib Salem / Reuters — Moamen Qreiqea, 25, lost both his legs in an Israeli air strike in 2008 while taking pictures east of Gaza. The father of two is determined to continue his career as a photographer despite his disability.
Moamen Qreiqea takes pictures of his daughter outside his home in Gaza City, Oct. 1.
Moamen Qreiqea holds his cameras next to his mother in his home in Gaza City, Oct. 1.
Moamen Qreiqea exercises in a gym in Gaza City, Oct. 1.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
Occupy DC marks one year anniversary
A member of Occupy DC smokes a cigarette after a march to mark the first anniversary of the movement at McPherson Square in Washington, D.C., Oct. 1, 2012. Tens of Occupiers returned to the nation’s capital to kick off a week of events for the anniversary.
London landmarks turned pink for breast cancer awareness
Ian Gavan / Getty Images
The Tower of London is illuminated pink for Breast Cancer Campaign's 'Turn London Landmarks Pink' for breast cancer awareness month on Oct. 1, 2012.
Ian Gavan / Getty Images
The HMS Belfast is illuminated pink for Breast Cancer Campaign's 'Turn London Landmarks Pink' for breast cancer awareness month, Oct. 1.
Danny Martindale / Getty Images
Trafalgar Square is illuminated pink for Breast Cancer Campaign's 'Turn London Landmarks Pink' for breast cancer awareness month, Oct. 1.
Danny Martindale / Getty Images
Buckingham Palace is illuminated pink for Breast Cancer Campaign's 'Turn London Landmarks Pink' for breast cancer awareness month, Oct. 1.
Ian Gavan / Getty Images
Somerset House is illuminated pink for Breast Cancer Campaign's 'Turn London Landmarks Pink' for breast cancer awareness month, Oct. 1.
Danny Martindale / Getty Images
A Queen's Guard stands guard as Buckingham Palace is turned pink for Breast Cancer Campaign's 'Turn London Landmarks Pink' for breast cancer awareness month, Oct. 1.
Ian Gavan / Getty Images
The Tower of London is illuminated pink for Breast Cancer Campaign's 'Turn London Landmarks Pink' for breast cancer awareness month, Oct. 1.
Northern lights shine with the moon
Jonathan Tucker
Jonathan Tucker's Sept. 30 photo captures the aurora's reflection in the Yukon lake below. For more of Tucker's work, check out Tucker's gallery on 500px.com,
The good news is that the northern lights hit the heights this weekend, with auroral displays visible as far south as Illinois — and the bad news wasn't all that bad. Sure, the glare of the "Harvest Moon" interfered somewhat, but you could argue that the moonlight added some extra shine to the show.
The northern lights are such a subtle phenomenon that they're best seen from the countryside, far from city lights, and that was the case for Jonathan Tucker, who captured the "September Lights" you see above on Sunday night, near Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon Territory.
"I was sitting at home, and when I looked out my window I noticed the northern lights were out," he told SpaceWeather.com, "so I grabbed my camera and went to a close spot that would be away from city lights. The auroras didn't last long, but I got this shot."
Meanwhile, on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Lake Superior Photo's Shawn Malone was heading home from work and watching the moon rise when he noticed spikes of greenish light to the south.
"Immediately looked to the north, and the sky was on fire," Malone told SpaceWeather.com. "Light every direction, multiple arcs at the same time overhead and to the south — had a hard time deciding which way to point the camera!"
Another Upper Michigander, Mark Riutta of Defined Visuals, caught what he called a "mild display of aurora activity" over the Portage Canal in Houghton, Mich.
"I wish it was a little better show, but once the almost full moon got higher in the sky, it seemed to diminish the aurora's intensity," Riutta, whose told me in an email.
Shawn Malone / LakeSuperiorPhoto.com
The sky is aglow during an auroral display over Michigan's Central Upper Peninsula. For more photos from Shawn Malone, check out LakeSuperiorPhoto.com.
Not to worry, Mark: What you saw was a sight that would make folks like me green with envy. Generally speaking, the best time to see an aurora would be around midnight, from a dark location with clear skies. The higher your latitude, the better. But timing is everything: It does no good to go out to an aurora-viewing spot if there's no aurora. You have to get out and look north (or look south, if you're in Australia, New Zealand or Antarctica) when geomagnetic activity is high — as it was on Sunday night.
Even if you missed Sunday's show, there are more auroral extravaganzas to come, thanks in part to the current upswing in the 11-year solar activity cycle. Keep a watch on the Space Weather Prediction Center's website and Facebook page — and for the current word on space weather, as well as pictures from past auroral displays, you can't do any better than SpaceWeather.com.
More about the aurora season:
- 'Tis the season for the northern lights
- Your guide to the northern lights
- SpaceWeather.com: Aurora gallery
- Space.com: How the northern lights work
- Cosmic Log archive for auroral glories
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, sent via email every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Brazilian soldiers patrol in Rio to guarantee 'democratic freedom' ahead of election
Ricardo Moraes / Reuters
A student walks past a Brazilian Army tank during a patrol of the Muquico slum in Rio de Janeiro on Oct. 1. Brazilian soldiers and marines started a patrol in Rio de Janeiro slums to guarantee "democratic freedom" and allow candidates to campaign for the upcoming Oct. 7 elections for the mayor and city council.
Silvia Izquierdo / AP
An Electoral Tribune worker removes illegal campaign banners while a Brazilian soldier patrols the Fogo Cruzado slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Oct. 1. Brazil's Defense Ministry says troops will be used to ensure peaceful voting and campaigning in Rio de Janeiro ahead of next week's municipal elections. Voters in 5,565 cities and towns across Latin America's biggest country will elect mayors and municipal councilmen on Oct. 7.
Silvia Izquierdo / AP
A child lounges on a bench next to a campaign banner at the Fogo Cruzado slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Oct. 1.
Rescuers search for Hong Kong ferry collision survivors at night
Kin Cheung / AP
Rescuers check on a half submerged boat after it collided Monday night near Lamma Island, off the southwestern coast of Hong Kong Island on Oct. 2, local time. Authorities in Hong Kong have rescued 101 people after a ferry collided with a tugboat and sank. A local broadcaster says eight people died.
By NBC News and news services
At least eight people were reported dead and as many as 20 remained missing after a Hong Kong ferry carrying more than 120 people was hit by another vessel late Monday.
Police in the Chinese territory said 101 people had been rescued in waters off the Lamma island village of Yung Shue Wan, according to the South China Morning Post.
Hong Kong's Hospital Authority said there were eight deaths as of midnight Monday (12 p.m. ET), and at least 53 people sent to area hospitals, the Wall Street Journal reported. Continue reading.
Vincent Yu / AP
A survivor is carried onto shore after a collision involving two vessels in Hong Kong on Oct. 2, local time.
Ian Langsdon / EPA
Miss Scarlet...with the candlestick...on the runway
A model displays a creation by Valentin Yudashkin at Paris Fashion Week Ready to Wear Spring/Summer 2013 in Paris on Oct. 1. The fashion week runs from Sept. 25 to Oct. 3. View more fashion images on PhotoBlog.
Buddhists pick up the pieces after temples, homes torched over Facebook photo
A.M.Ahad / AP
A Bangladeshi Buddhist woman cries at a Buddhist temple which was torched in Ramu in the coastal district of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Oct. 1. Hundreds of Buddhists fled their southern Bangladesh villages in the wake of attacks by Muslims who burned at least 10 Buddhist temples and 40 homes in anger over a Facebook photo of a burned Quran. The Buddhists started returning home Monday amid heightened security and more than 160 arrests.
A.M.Ahad / AP
Pages of burned religious books remain at a Buddhist temple on Oct. 1 which was torched in an overnight weekend attack in Ramu in the coastal district of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
Reuters reports-- Bangladesh accused Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar on Monday of involvement in attacks on Buddhist temples and homes in the southeast and said the violence was triggered by a photo posted on Facebook that insulted Islam.
Thousands of Muslims went on a rampage in Buddhist areas of Bangladesh near the border on Saturday, setting ablaze more than a dozen temples and monasteries and at least 50 homes. Property was looted, including statues of the Buddha.
"The attacks on temples and houses in Buddhist localities in Ramu and neighboring areas in Cox's Bazar (district) were perpetrated by radical Islamists," Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir told reporters in Dhaka. Continue reading.
After heightened security and 160 arrests, some of the Buddhists began returning home on Monday, according to the Associated Press.
A.M.Ahad / AP
A Bangladeshi Buddhist Monk reacts as he looks at a burned book shelf at a Buddhist temple on Oct. 1.
Andrew Biraj / Reuters
A woman sits in front of her burned home on Oct. 1 after Muslims attacked and set fire to Buddhist households in Cox's Bazar.
Andrew Biraj / Reuters
Shoshi Barua, 56, a Buddhist woman lies under a mosquito net in her temporary shelter on Oct. 1 after Muslims set fire to her home in Cox's Bazar.
Andrew Biraj / Reuters
A Buddhist woman walks through the gate of a temple as a policeman stands guard on Oct. 1 after a weekend attack on the temple by Muslims, in Cox's Bazar.
Now you see her, now you don't... Ikea removes women from Saudi Arabian catalogue
These two photos appeared in the Swedish, left, and Saudi Arabian Ikea catalogues for 2013.
By Martha C. White, NBC News contributor
Scrubbing the bathroom got a whole new meaning in the Saudi Arabian Ikea catalog. The Swedish home and furnishings retailer faced criticism after reports surfaced that Ikea digitally erased women from pictures in the Saudi version of the catalog.
In one picture of a family in a bathroom, the mother standing at the sink with her son was removed. Even one of the retailer’s own designers, Clara Gausch, was erased from a photo featuring four of the brand’s designers. Full Story
Ajit Solanki / AP
Cleaning Gandhi before his birthday
A man throws water on a statue of Mahatma Gandhi as he cleans it on the eve of Gandhi's birthday at the Gujarat state legislature complex in Gandhinagar, India, on Oct. 1, 2012. Gandhi was born on Oct. 2, 1869.
The last stag hunt: 45 years of stalking deer in Scotland
Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Head stalker Peter Fraser leads a shooting party up to Milstone Cairn on the Invercauld Estate in Braemar, Scotland, on Sept. 28, 2012.
Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images
Peter Fraser prepares to load a freshly shot stag onto a pony.
After forty five years as a professional stalker, and 43 years as the head stalker on the Invercauld Estate, Peter Fraser is working his last red deer stag season before his retirement in November. (Stalking is the term used in Scotland for hunting and shooting deer.) The stalking season runs from July until October.
According to the Invercauld Estate website, "the land has been in the ownership of the Farquharson family for many centuries and extends to approximately 200 square miles of spectacular scenery. The Estate is managed commercially but with great respect for the natural environment."
Read more about gamekeepers and Peter Fraser on the Scottish Gamekeepers Association website.
Editor's note: This series of pictures was made available Oct. 1.
Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Peter Fraser, right, and his hunting party look down on a stag at Loch Kander on the Invercauld Estate on Sept. 29, 2012, in Braemar, Scotland.
Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Peter Fraser drags a shot stag at Milstone Cairn on the Invercauld Estate on Sept. 28, 2012.
Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Peter Fraser disembowels a deer in Corrie Kander on the Invercauld Estate on Sept. 29, 2012.
Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Peter Fraser stands in the larder doorway on Auchallater farm on the Invercauld Estate on Sept. 29, 2012.
Undecided voters – what's your deciding factor?
Reuters, Getty Images
The first of three presidential debates occurs Wednesday and many voters will use these events to educate themselves on the candidates. We want to take this the opportunity to hear what it would take to change your mind from an undecided voter to a Romney or Obama supporter.
How do you participate?
- Take a picture of yourself, or a photo representing the issue that is most important to you.
- In the caption (or a tweet), tell us what you want to hear from the candidates. Keep your responses short.
- Tag your photo #NBCNewsPics in Instagram or Twitter.
- Or upload your photo in the box below.
On Wednesday we’ll publish a selection of your photos and responses in PhotoBlog, so stay tuned.
Related Links:
Luke Macgregor / Reuters
There's nothing worse than a wet wig: Judges in London try to stay dry in the rain
Judges shelter under umbrellas they wait to attend a service at Westminster Abbey to mark the start of the legal year in London on Oct. 1.
Visitors marvel at China's 'red beach'
AFP - Getty Images
Visitors at the red beach scenic area in Panjin, in northeast China's Liaoning province, on September 30, 2012. The beach gets its name from its appearance, which is caused by a type of seaweed that flourishes in the saline-alkali soil.
AFP - Getty Images
Leaving the comfortable life in America to help Afghanistan
Photojournalist Andrea Bruce writes: "After covering the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 10 years, I found it important to bring attention to the similarities in the cultures involved in these conflicts. I believe that getting people to relate to each other in different countries and from various religions is the first step to empathy during war. I hope photography can help cut down stereotypes and cliches." To this end, Bruce photographed Afghan-Americans who left comfortable lives in the U.S. to work in unstable Afghanistan.
Andrea Bruce / Alicia Patterson Foundation - NOOR
Aman Mojadidi, 41, artist.
"Afghanistan definitely didn’t seem like home per se but it was very much this place where my family was from, and I still had this very strong kind of sense of having an Afghan identity … it makes me kind of understand more my American identity. It's funny ... [it took] growing up in the U.S. to feel Afghan and it took living in Afghanistan to feel American.
"I think probably by far one of my favorite ones [art projects], yeah, was the pay back, which was basically a fake checkpoint set up on the street in Kabul where we offered money back to some vehicles rather than asking for bribes … trying to take something that a lot of people spoke about all the time, which was the corruption, the bribes that they have to pay and all this kind of stuff and turn it into, you know, an art work and kind of flip it on its head."
Andrea Bruce / Alicia Patterson Foundation - NOOR
Hassina Sherjan, 51, girls' school founder and administrator.
"I really believe in what I’m doing, and when you really believe in what you do, you hardly get frustrated. I started clandestine girls schools in '90s. We have 3900 students in nine provinces. I don’t really see it as an Afghan thing or an American thing. You just do what you need to do.
"As the elite who left when everything became rough, we have a responsibility to come back and do something here. Not to just be comfortable and make money but to do something. To really make a difference. And a lot of us can. There are a lot of Afghans abroad who are educated, who have done a lot of work, who understand education building, who understand governments ... but nobody is coming."
Andrea Bruce / Alicia Patterson Foundation - NOOR
Koukaba Mojadidi, 35, an architect for International Organization for Migration in Afghanistan working on building a womens' center and police training facilities.
"I grew up in Jacksonville, Fla. Which was really boring, most of the time. Very safe, very quiet. We never struggled. Upper middle class, living on a river. Pretty fortunate.
"Both of my parents are from Afghanistan. The minute I came into my house, I was living in a different set of rules, a different context. And the minute I left my house, I was living in the real world. Having to consider both cultures at the same time, all the time. For instance, we couldn’t socialize with a lot of Americans. My parents were really into keeping our heritage alive, our culture alive. There are are more differences than similarities, in my parents' minds.
"Everything in your life before you are 18 revolves around how you fit in in school, and learning how to establish yourself as an individual ... and at the same time you are balancing western ideas of your culture. Individualism (in the US) contrasts deeply to the idea of Afghan culture which is all about being a collective and being together and being close and feeling what that other person is feeling, and being emotionally enmeshed in everyone’s problems."
Andrea Bruce / Alicia Patterson Foundation - NOOR
Mustafa Ali Nouri, 44, an architect for the International Organization for Migration in Afghanistan working to build a womens' center and police training facilities.
"In the end, home for me will always be Washington [DC]. The longest period of time in my life was there. I will always consider it my hometown. But I feel I have roots here. Emotions that I don’t know how to explain. You feel connected to the land. Doesn’t matter how dusty it is, or how terrible it might be in some ways. Even as an architect, the environmental mess, but at the same time there is something beautiful about this place.
"Because I am Afghan American, I feel I can see it better. I can see it in the eyes of the young people. They are craving to be a part of the world society. How can they go back to before 2001? You can not drag them. Either push them out or exterminate. But it is in their brain now. You can not kill that. They know now. They know what is out there in the world. They want to be. They want to have a society for themselves and for their children where they can have opportunities. They are the ones that give me a lot of hope."
Andrea Bruce / Alicia Patterson Foundation - NOOR
Tooba Mayel, 38, Gender Justice Advisor with International Development Law Organization. She monitors protection centers who work on legal and mediation cases. IDLO's work is currently supporting the work of lawyers and training programs for prosecutors who defend victims of violence, since violence and protection laws are vague or not implemented. Training and working with local authorities is vital during this time in Afghanistan, Mayel believes.
"Being an Afghan-American to me means that I am able to unite two different worlds under one frame of thought, mind and heart that exceeds boundaries and distances. As an individual that was raised under two cultures, where experiences and circumstances have taken me from conflict to freedom, from a poor nation to a rich one, from deep rooted traditions to new and modern ideologies, but more importantly the courage and the compassion to come back where vulnerable peoples fight for human liberties.
"I have not only helped a country I call my motherland in its rehabilitation and progress, but also that same country has taught me to be sensitive to issues of human rights and not to take for granted the liberties that America has raised me with."
Photographer Bruce continues: "In the process of covering Afghanistan, I met many Afghan-Americans who said they sometimes feel caught between two different worlds. And they have felt the events of the past 20 years most harshly. When Sept. 11 happened, many saw great possibilities in combining their two homelands. Since then, some have wrestled with their identity. Others have become disillusioned. Regardless, all of them have spent a lot of time thinking about their two countries, and what dual-citizenship means to them in a time of war."
See more images from Afghanistan's current events in this slideshow, and more Afghanistan images in PhotoBlog.
Peng Jianfeng / Reuters
A tourist bus, seen through the window of a vehicle, catches fire after crashing with a truck on the Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu Expressway in Tianjin, China on October 1, 2012.
China holiday crash kills five Germans as millions take to roads
Reuters reports — A bus struck a container truck near Beijing and burst into flames on Monday, killing five German tourists and a Chinese driver as motorists jammed roads at the start of a week-long holiday.
Fourteen people were injured in the mid-morning accident as the bus on the road linking the capital to the neighboring city of Tianjin ran into the back of the truck, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Police were investigating the cause. Read the full story.