8 Stunning Photo Galleries of Our Precious Planet

Beth Moon made a 15-year pilgrimage to photograph the world's most ancient trees. Her exquisite black and white perfectly capture their age and grandeur. And they point to humanity's enduring affinity for, and exploitation of, really, really old trees. See more images.

After photographing the world's oldest trees, Moon turned her attention to the stars. For Diamond Nights, she documented the towering baobabs and quiver trees of Africa, making long exposure photos in darkness to draw out the glittering sky. See more images.

Stunning is the only way to describe the Blue Fire Crater of Indonesia. Though it looks rivers of lava flow through the crater, its' actually combusting sulfuric gas venting through fissures in the earth. Reuben Wu traveled halfway across the world to shoot the "lava" in the dead of night. See more images.

Anuar Patjane's black and white images capture the magic and wonder of being underwater. He spent five years photographing sting rays, sharks, humpback whales and more off the coast of Mexico and Cuba. The result is an intimate look at a world few people ever encounter. See more images.

Earth is a wondrous place when seen from space, a colorful world of ornate shapes, bold colors, and fascinating patterns. There's no shortage of ways to take in the view, but the Earth as Art collection from the US Geological Survey is one of the best. You'll never see the Rocky Mountains or the Empty Quarter in quite the same way again. See more images.

You wouldn't think it's possible to make the Northern Lights look even more dazzling than they are, but Tiina Törmänen does exactly that by adding one thing: Herself. Her long-exposure self-portraits in the wilds of Finland convey the majesty of the Aurora Borealis and the vastness of the scenery. They're breathtaking. See more images.