Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System’s four terrestrial planets. Home to millions of species including humans, Earth is currently the only astronomical body where life is known to exist. Too bad that some of us don’t appreciate and don’t respect our little place in space. In this article I have collected 30 superb pictures that prove how lucky we are.

Tuscany, Italy

Photo made by Jure Kravanja

Coopers Creek

Photo made by Robert Woodland

Huge lenticular stacks  in the Washington State Cascade Mountain Range

Photo made by Darlisa Black

Afternoon sun lights up storm clouds and rainbows over Bondi Beach

Photo made by Stefan Geyer

A composite panoramic of Delicate Arch and the background landscape of Arches National Park, Utah

Photo made by Nick Chill

Near Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Photo made by Eric Sambol

This brown bear had just popped its head up after ‘snorkeling’ for salmon in Katmai National Park & Preserve, Alaska.

Photo made by Eric Sambol

Glacier National Park, Montana

Photo made by Larry Hughes

Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

Photo made by Kevin Farias

This photograph was taken at Bryce Canyon with the very first light of the sun from Sunrise Point

Photo made by Oleg Slyusarchuk

Death Valley National Park

Photo made by Dan Brown

Oregon’s Crater Lake

Photo made by Tyson Fisher

Sunset Flasher, Saguaro National Park, Arizona

Photo made by Pete Gregoire

Wonder Lake, Denali National Park, Alaska

Photo made by T. Anthony Howell

Three kayakers pause to listen to the sounds of Aialik Glacier, in Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska

Photo made by David Plambeck

Dark storm clouds approach a steaming pool of intensely and naturally blue water. This pool is part of a geothermal oasis surrounded by a vast expanse of desert at Hveravellir, in the Kjolur region of central Iceland.

Photo made by Ben Hattenbach

Canyonlands National Park in Utah just after sunset.

Photo made by Christopher Zimmer

After days of rain the clouds began to clear and reveal the face of Half Dome.

Photo made by Craig Wolf

Studying volcanoes presents some great photographic opportunities. Extremophile bacteria and a moonscape-like landscape make for natural abstract art in Yellowstone National Park.

Photo made by David Mencin

Redwoods Park, California

Photo made by Randy Steffens

Two hikers in the Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah

Photo made by Ovidiu Ifrim

Sunrise of Grand Teton Mountains and an old wooden fence

Photo made by Mike Briner

On a late-summer afternoon in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Photo made by Justin Roth

Brown bear sow and cub clamming together on the mud flats during low tide along Cook Inlet in Alaska’s Lake Clark National Park.

Photo made by Weldon Lee

This magnificent waterfall stands as an oasis in the heart of the Grand Canyon.

Photo made by Rafi Strum

Taken from the Prairie Wind Overlook in Badlands National Park, South Dakota.  The mirrored symmetry with the clouds and light really caught my eye.  The only thing you could hear was the wind rustling through the grass.

Photo made by AiPing Hu

A close-up shot of a thermal pool in Yellowstone National Park

Photo made by Karen Cameron

This image was captured during a recent trip to Canyonland in Utah. Sun rays filter through the clouds of an approaching storm, which produced lightning along with six inches of snow.

Photo made by Scott Rodenburg

This is a 17-minute exposure of Yosemite Valley in late November of 2006. The moon illuminated the scene.

Photo made by Phil Hawkins

Nature slowly reclaims everything.  A ladder fern springs from a crack in the 1979 lava flows from Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Photo made by Angela Doherty