Hunting Orion 

This image taken by Björn Hoffmann shows the Orion Nebula, as seen on 30 November. Hoffmann works as a technology and failure analysis engineer at RoodMicrotec in Stuttgart, but turned his gaze upward for this shot. Credit: Björn Hoffmann

Looking in the mirror

NASA has been showing off the giant mirrors that will collect light for its huge James Webb Space Telescope, after it completed a ‘centre of curvature test’ that checks the shape of the key component. The US$8-billion project should launch in October 2018. Credit: Chris Gunn/NASA

Photo awards

White light

This remarkable picture of a ‘fog bow’ was captured in Scotland by landscape photographer Melvin Nicholson. The phenomenon is created in a similar way to a rainbow, as the result of sunlight interacting with through water droplets in the air. An early mention of a fog bow can be found in Nature’s issue from 23 February 1888, in which meteorologist Henrik Mohn advances the now-accepted theory that the lack of colour is down to the water droplets in fog being smaller than those in rain. Credit: Melvin Nicholson/REX/Shutterstock

Mosul burns

Islamist terrorist group ISIS set oil wells ablaze as fighting over the city of Mosul in Iraq intensified this month, triggering fears for the health of local people trapped by the conflict. NASA is tracking a huge cloud of sulfur from a burning chemical plant in the region. Credit: Carl Court/Getty Images

Dodo $keleton

This rare dodo skeleton fetched £280,000 (US$350,000) at an auction in the United Kingdom on 22 November. Few similar specimens of the extinct Raphus cucullatus exist; this one was compiled by an enthusiast who spent four decades piecing together a a 95%-complete skeleton from the remains of a number of different animals. Credit: Matt Dunham AP/Press Association Images