December 20, 2023

A resident is covered in frost while exercising outdoors during cold weather in Shenyang, in China's northeast Liaoning province.

The orbiting telescope recently unwrapped the latest data from the "Christmas Tree Cluster," a bundle of shining stars about 2,500 light-years from Earth. The blue-and-white lights are young stars, seen with Chandra's X-ray vision, which decorate the green nebula of gas that surrounds them.

Congolese police officers block a door after voters forced their way into a voting station in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Millions of Congolese head to the polls in a high-stakes general election in which President Felix Tshisekedi is seeking a new term against a fragmented opposition.

A fireball explodes after an Israeli strike over Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, amid ongoing battles between Israel and Hamas.

Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip.

Supporters place signs of hostages who are held by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on the wall of a damaged house, as they visit Kibbutz Beeri, Israel, to demand their immediate release.

Ma Chengyun mourns for his daughter-in-law, who was killed in the earthquake in Yangwa village near Dahejia town, in northwestern China's Gansu province. A strong overnight earthquake rattled the mountainous area, officials said, destroying homes, leaving residents out in a below-freezing winter night and killing many in the nation's deadliest quake in nine years. 

Scientists from the University of Iceland take measurements and samples standing on the ridge in front of the active part of the eruptive fissure of an active volcano in Grindavik on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula, Dec. 19, 2023.

A migrant child crawls out through wire along the banks of the Rio Grande River while crossing from Mexico into Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S., Dec. 19, 2023.

Singers take part in a rehearsal for their upcoming Christmas performances, at St. Paul's Cathedral in central London.

This image shows Cerro Dominador, the first thermosolar power plant in Latin America, in Antofagasta, Chile. In the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world, located in northern Chile, a 240-meter solar thermal tower surrounded by mirrors is operating as a symbol of the biggest energy revolution against climate change in Latin America.