Whirling nebulae, fireballs, the aurora borealis: nothing like spectacular space pictures to give you a little perspective.
The 2014 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition has just released its cosmically awesome shortlisted entries. Capturing scenes across the solar system, galaxy, and beyond, the images are spectacular reminders that we're all living on a "mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam," as astronomer Carl Sagan famously put it in "Pale Blue Dot."
