Decorate your desktop with these images from our 50 Best Photos special iPad app.
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Tail of Plane in Flight
Photograph by Bruce Dale, National Geographic
A 23-second exposure in a camera mounted in the tail of a Lockheed TriStar jet captures the lights of the airport runway and the city beyond.
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Lion in the Kalahari Desert
Photograph by Chris Johns, National Geographic
A lion patrols the dry Nossob riverbed, center of a vast refuge for big game. Here South Africa’s Kalahari Gemsbok National Park is joined by a fenceless border with Botswana’s larger Gemsbok National Park, representing an African trend toward transnational parks allowing wildlife free rein in their natural ecosystem.
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Group of Siberian Reindeer
Photograph by Dean Conger, National Geographic
Reindeer cross the Siberian snow near Oymyakon, in the U.S.S.R. A young girl atop one of the animals herds them forward toward her family’s tent and a break for food and rest.
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Underwater Prow of Titanic
Photograph by Emory Kristoff, National Geographic
With 10,000 watts of light and cutting-edge submersible technology, the Titanic comes to life from two and a half miles beneath the ocean’s surface.
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Pears in Window, Moscow
Photograph by Sam Abell, National Geographic
Seven pears occupy a Moscow windowsill, catching the light of the afternoon sun.
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Mecca at Night during Haj, Saudi Arabia
Photograph by Thomas J. Abercrombie, National Geographic
A quarter million Muslims jam Haram Mosque in the holy city of Mecca to pay homage to Allah. Those in the center (blurred in this time exposure) circle the black-draped Kaaba, most sacred of Islamic shrines. Muslims believe the Prophet Abraham—like Muhammad a messenger of God—and his son Ishmael built the first structure here.
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Windsor Castle in Snow
Photograph by James L. Stanfield, National Geographic
Rolling through the snow, Prince Philip takes his four-in-hand carriage out for an early morning drive along a path near Windsor Castle.
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Cowboys Branding Cattle, Montana
Photograph by Sam Abell, National Geographic
Montana cowboys brand and castrate their livestock—a familiar yearly ritual in cattle country.
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Camels Crossing the Sahara
Photograph by Chris Johns, National Geographic
Scorching sun casts long shadows as camels cross the salt flats of Lake Assal, Djibouti, one of the lowest places on Earth at 512 feet below sea level.
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