Star ReserveStar trails streak over Lake Tekapo in New Zealand in a newly released long-exposure picture.The lake was one of the first sites designated as a Starlight Reserve as part of a UN-supported initiative to preserve the quality of the night sky and its cultural, scientific, or natural values.(Find out more about efforts to combat light pollution in National Geographic magazine.)

Photograph by Alex Cherney, TWAN

Space Pictures This Week: Sinking Moon, Frosty Leo, More

A starlight reserve, a warped moon, record-breaking black holes, and an icy nebula feature among this week's best space pictures.

December 10, 2011

Related Topics

You May Also Like

To explore space, scientists want to turn the moon into a gas station

Phases of the moon, explained

Surprising ways animals react to solar eclipses

Watch a black hole fall into a star and then blow it up

The race to save secrets trapped in ice

Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright © 2015-2026 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved