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Aerial view of the ruins of Takht-i-Bahi, a 1st-century CE Buddhist monastery complex located in what was once the ancient Indian region of Gandhara, in the present-day northern Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is representative of Buddhist monastic architecture from its era and the ruins were listed as a World Heritage Site in 1980, with UNESCO describing it as having been "exceptionally well-preserved".

Muzamil Hassain Toori, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Bryan Hanson on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

These people are not in danger. What is coming down from the left is just the Moon, far in the distance. Luna appears so large here because she is being photographed through a telescopic lens. What is moving is mostly the Earth, whose spin causes the Moon to slowly disappear behind Mount Teide, a volcano in the Canary Islands of Spain off the northwest coast of Africa. The people pictured are 16 kilometers away and many are facing the camera because they are watching the Sun rise behind the photographer. It is not a coincidence that a full moon sets just when the Sun rises because the Sun is always on the opposite side of the sky from a full moon. The featured video was made in 2018 during a full Milk Moon. The video is not time-lapse -- this was really how fast the Moon was setting.

Video by El Cielo de Canarias

Chalcophaps indica (Asian Emerald Dove) in Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary, Odisha, India.

Tisha Mukherjee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Mahatma Gandhi - (October 2, 1869 - January 30, 1948)

Dan Aragón on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Orion never had a sword like this. As Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) heads out of the inner Solar System, it is putting on quite a show for long exposure cameras. Currently seen toward the constellation of Orion the Hunter, the distant Orion Nebula is visible on the upper right. Comet R3 PanSTARRS is now showing two distinct tails: a short dust tail pointing toward the top of the image and a long and wavy ion tail trailing off toward the upper left. The ion tail points away from the Sun and glows blue from excited carbon monoxide. Large particles in the dust tail somewhat resist the radiation pressure that push them away from the Sun and so retain a bit of the comet's orbit. The dust tail shines by reflected sunlight. The featured image was taken a few days ago from France's Reunion Island in the southern Indian Ocean. Growing Gallery: Comet R3 PanSTARRS in 2026

Photo by Luc Perrot (TWAN)

Flower buds in development of a Crocosmia 'Lucifer' (Montbretia). Focus stack of 54 photos.

Dominicus Johannes Bergsma, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.