Pictures of the year 2009: weather

Telegraph.co.uk ^ | Tuesday 29 December 2009 | Telegraph

[mware]

An arc, known as a fire rainbow taken in the Austrian Alps. The fire rainbow gets its name as it looks like a bow set on fire, but it is caused by ice

Picture: NATIONAL PICTURES

A smile in the sky, or upside down rainbow, over Copthorne, near Crawley, Sussex

Picture: NATIONAL PICTURES/NIGEL BLACKWELL

An early morning sunrise gives a pinkish glow to a rainbow as rain clouds glide by on the western horizon in Tigard, Oregon

Picture: AP

A bolt of lightning strikes a yacht's mast. Amateur photographer Francis Evans from Truro, Cornwall, decided to take a photograph from his window on the off-chance that he could capture the lightning. He did - hitting his neighbour's 18ft yacht

Picture: APEX NEWS

A photograph of the Golden Gate Bridge taken during a thunderstom by Frank Fennema

Picture: FRANK FENNEMA

A tornado photographed in Colorado, USA

Picture: CHRIS HARLAN / NATIONAL

A lenticular cloud formation near Mt Ranier in Washington State

Picture: TIM THOMPSON / NASA APOD

A resident holds huge hailstones following a thunderstorm in Lofer, in the Austrian province of Salzburg...

Picture: AP

A rare rotating ice disc, normally only found in polar regions, that was spotted by ramblers who saw the 10ft frozen circle as they took a stroll along the banks of the River Otter near Honiton in Devon

Picture: SWNS

A cardinal sits on a fence near Maysville, Kentucky, as the ice begins to melt

Picture: AP

[mware]

Enjoy

[mware]

Best Photos of Space.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/picture-galleries/6867366/Pictures-of-the-year-2009-space.html

[mware]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/picture-galleries/6867366/Pictures-of-the-year-2009-space.html

[mware]

In the first of our Pictures of Year galleries, we look at the best space images we received this year. This image provided by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm, glowing clouds. The festive portrait is the most detailed view of a young stellar grouping, called R136 in the 30 Doradus Nebula Picture: AP / NASA

[mware]

The Cartwheel galaxy as seen by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer's Far Ultraviolet detector, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory Picture: AP / NASA

[spetznaz]

I wonder if a person could have survived being in that yacht when the lighting struck. I am assuming the boat had some sort of arrestor, but all the same that bolt looks pretty massive. Any meteorological types on FR who may have an answer? Thanks.

[mware]

An image taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope shows a celestial object that looks like a delicate butterfly Picture: AP / NASA

[Long Island Pete]

These days, unless I took the picture myself, I dont trust them to be real.

[HerrBlucher]

Great tornado and lennie pics, thanks!

[mware]

This image, taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope, shows stars bursting to life in the chaotic Carina Nebula Picture: NASA

[mware]

It looks like a soap bubble, but this is a planetary nebula caused when stars die and blast out a glowing shell of gas and plasma. Known as the "Soap Bubble Nebula", this rare planetary nebula PN G75.5 1.7 was discovered by an amateur astronomer Picture: REX FEATURES