Last week, a NASA released a gorgeous picture of Earth, focused on the Western Hemisphere. The picture gained steam as being the largest photo of Earth ever taken, but it turns out it isn’t — it is simply a composite. It’s still gorgeous, so when NASA released a picture of the Eastern Hemisphere created using the same methods as the Western Hemisphere picture, we’re not exactly unhappy about pointing our eyes in its general direction.

The neon signs of the animal world, fireflies have been impressing us non-luminescent humans for millenia. Though their flashes are just a gaudy advertisement for sex, it is no less beautiful — even more so when you photograph them with a long exposure camera. These photos from Japan capture fireflies as little more than beautiful points of light, while others capture the zigzagging path of the moving insects. It’s great stuff, making the forest look almost magical. See more, after the break.

For those unaware, the Very Large Array is a collection of radio telescopes out in the desert near Socorro, New Mexico. With it, scientists are able to probe the edges of the universe, and witness amazing sites invisible to the eye. It was also a critical set piece in the film Contact, and what’s more, the sight of all those radio antennas pointing skyward is more than a little iconic. Using time lapse photography and motion graphics, film maker Douglas Koke lets the amazing telescopes take center stage in his short film Signal to Noise. It’s a pretty amazing look at an astounding piece of human ingenuity.

Cinematographer Philip Bloom, commissioned by the crown prince of Dubai Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, created this startlingly beautiful time lapse video called Abraj. The name is apparently the Arabic plural for “tower,” and refers to the iconic Burj Al Arab and the enormous Burj Khalifa. Though they are the centerpieces, the film introduces viewers to the stunning beauty of the city. Turn up the volume, make it full screen, and let the imagery just wash over your eyeballs.

Over the past few days, you may have seen the above picture of Earth floating around the ol’ Internet, dubbed the largest picture of Earth ever taken. While the picture is absolutely gorgeous, it’s not actually the largest picture of Earth ever taken. Norman Kuring, the NASA oceanographer who made the picture, says though the picture is indeed large, it’s by no means the biggest, and on top of that, is actually a composite of a bunch of different segments.

You’ve probably heard about how gorgeous Yosemite National Park is, but you probably have never seen it filmed so beautifully as it is here by Sheldon Neill and Colin Delehanty. In this time lapse video, filmed over the course of several days, you’ll see roiling clouds, the Milky Way, and tiny people skittering about the enormity of nature. Simply beautiful.

While the Enterprise is most iconic of the Star Trek vessels, I’ll always have a soft spot for the USS Reliant which appeared in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. This amazing LEGO model of the Miranda class starship by Christer Nyberg captures the doomed ship in all its bricky glory. Nyberg writes that the model took him nearly two years to design and build, and used some 10-15 thousand LEGO pieces. It even has some sweet lighting effects. See more pictures, after the break.

While the Earth can wow us with its stunning natural beauty, sometimes you need a pretty unique vantage point to really appreciate it. For instance, this picture of a phytoplankton bloom swirling in a figure-eight pattern probably wouldn’t look like much if you were in the midst of it. But when viewed from the European Space Agency’s Envisat satellite, the smearing shapes and bold colors can really be appreciated. In addition to being pretty to look at, images like this can give scientists a better understanding of the microscopic phytoplankton — which play a huge role in removing carbon from the atmosphere and form the basis of the marine food chain.

Barry Wazzy (wazzy88) of deviantART is what you’d call “good at Photoshop.” He’s made a collection of absolutely gorgeous poké balls, mostly realistic-looking, as well as even made a few Okami-themed poké balls, because why not? Check them out after the break.

You can do a lot with eBooks: Carry hundreds of them in a device that weighs a few ounces, read them across multiple platforms, you can even loan and borrow them. However, I don’t think you’d be able to create as impressive and charming an animation as this one from a husband and wife team over many nights at the  Type Books store in Toronto. Made using only the books in the shop, this video is a love letter to the printed word.