Photography

Photos of the Week: Solar Eclipse, Amazon Monument, Titanic Bonfire

Blossoming cherry trees in Germany, a fertility and harvest festival in Poland, a horse harness parade in England, a Tomb-Sweeping Day festival in Hong Kong, and much more

By Alan Taylor
Four astronauts hug while inside a capsule, floating in micro-gravity.
NASA
The Artemis II crew—(clockwise from left) mission specialist Christina Koch, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, commander Reid Wiseman, and pilot Victor Glover—take time out for a group hug inside the Orion spacecraft on their way home to Earth on April 7, 2026. Following a swing around the far side of the moon on April 6, 2026, the crew exited the lunar sphere of influence (the point at which the moon's gravity has a stronger pull on Orion than the Earth's) on April 7 and are headed back to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on April 10. The crew was selected in April 2023, and have been training together for their mission for the past three years.
The moon, backlit by the sun during a solar eclipse, as seen from a spacecraft far from Earth.
NASA
The moon, backlit by the sun during a solar eclipse, is photographed by crew members aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft on April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II mission. Orion is visible in the foreground on the left. Earth is reflecting sunlight at the left edge of the moon, which is slightly brighter than the rest of the disk. The bright spot visible just below the moon’s bottom right edge is Saturn. Beyond that, the bright spot at the right edge of the image is Mars.
Two people sit out, enjoying the sunset at a beach in Sydney, Australia.
George Chan / AAP Image / Reuters
People enjoy the sunset at Milk Beach in Sydney on April 9, 2026.
A hummingbird gathers moss from the underside of a tree branch.
Lindsey Wasson / AP
A hummingbird gathers moss to make a nest in a blooming Yoshino cherry tree at the University of Washington in Seattle, on April 5, 2026.
A woman stands in front of a bonfire, forming a heart with her hands.
Matthias Bein / DPA / Getty
A woman stands in front of an Easter bonfire on Maundy Thursday, forming a heart with her hands, in Westdorf, a district of Aschersleben, Germany, on April 2, 2026.
People gather around the base of a tall statue of an Amazon warrior.
Olympia De Maismont / AFP / Getty
People gather around the Amazon Monument in Cotonou, Benin, on April 6, 2026. The monument stands 30 meters (98 ft) tall, and was completed in 2022.
Two maintenance workers clean a tall monument of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
Igor Ivanko / AFP / Getty
Maintenance workers clean the monument of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in Moscow on April 8, 2026.
A string quartet performs as drones form the figure of a swan in the night sky above.
Stefano Rellandini / AFP / Getty
A string quartet performs as more than 1,000 drones form a figure in the sky during the DroneArt show in Milan, on April 2, 2026.
A line of geese flies past the Statue of Liberty and the skyline of Brooklyn at sunrise.
Gary Hershorn / Getty
Geese fly past the Statue of Liberty and the skyline of Brooklyn in New York City as the sun rises on April 4, 2026, as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey.
An aerial view of a very tall elevator descending into a steep-walled valley.
Deng Daoli / VCG / Getty
An aerial view of mist and clouds shrouding the 326-meter-tall Bailong Elevator at Zhangjiajie National Forest Park after a rainfall on April 9, 2026, in China’s Hunan province
A person walks their bike past blossoming cherry trees.
Martin Meissner / AP
Cherry blossoms shine in the sun at Rheinpark in Cologne, Germany, on a warm and sunny day, April 9, 2026.
Donald Trump speaks beside the Easter Bunny on a balcony.
Evan Vucci / Reuters
President Trump speaks beside the Easter Bunny during the 2026 White House Easter Egg Roll in Washington, D.C., on April 6, 2026.
Two men wear traditional straw costumes during a fertility festival in Poland.
Sergei Gapon / AFP / Getty
Bachelors wearing traditional straw costumes parade through the streets and splash water on villagers in a ritual for fertility and a bountiful harvest as they celebrate Easter Monday in Dobra, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland, on April 6, 2026.
Two camels, standing side-by-side, show their teeth.
Martin Meissner / AP
Two camels show their teeth at the zoo in Cologne, Germany, on April 9, 2026.
A model of the Titanic made out of logs burns up in a bonfire.
Michael Bahlo / DPA / Getty
A traditional Easter bonfire in Trechwitz, Brandenburg, Germany, on April 4, 2026. For the bonfire, themed “The Unsinkable 2,” members of a local leisure and youth club built a model of the Titanic out of logs.
A view from behind of a pack of bicycle racers riding through a road tunnel.
Dario Belingheri / Getty
A view of the peloton prior to the 110th Tour of Flanders on April 5, 2026, in Antwerp, Belgium.
Parts of a badly-deteriorated WWII-era Japanese fighter plane are raised from the ocean.
Yasunari Itayama / The Yomiuri Shimbun / Reuters
A Japanese Shiden Kai fighter plane is salvaged from the seabed off the coast of Akune City, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan and Kyushu Island region, on April 8, 2026. This aircraft flew out to intercept American B-29 bombers during World War II but was hit during combat and made an emergency landing in the sea. The fighter plane sat at the bottom of the sea for 81 years, but its engine, wings, and twin 20-millimeter cannons remain. There is a plan to display it to preserve the memory of the war.
A fireball rises from a building hit by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.
Kawnat Haju / AFP / Getty
A fireball rises from a building hit by an Israeli air strike in the area of Abbasiyeh, on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, on April 8, 2026. Lebanon’s army warned people against returning to the country’s south on April 8, where the Israeli military was still launching attacks, as Israel said the cease-fire with Iran did not include its conflict with Hezbollah.
Missile trails streak through the sky above Israel.
Jack Guez / AFP / Getty
Missile trails are seen in the sky above Netanya, Israel, on April 8, 2026. Israel’s military issued two warnings in quick succession early Wednesday that Iran had fired missiles toward it, moments after President Trump said he had agreed to postpone striking Iranian infrastructure.
An aerial view of a hillside cemetery in Hong Kong
Peter Parks / AFP / Getty
An aerial photo shows relatives tending to a grave at Diamond Hill Cemetery in Hong Kong on April 3, 2026, as people visit cemeteries to honor their ancestors during the annual Tomb-Sweeping Day festival known locally in Hong Kong as Ching Ming.
An aerial view of a sunrise over a hillside photovoltaic power installation
Wu Jiquan / VCG / Getty
An aerial view of a sunrise over a photovoltaic-power installation in Linyi, Shandong province, China, on April 8, 2026
An aerial view of blooming cherry trees in a narrow street in a city
Ina Fassbender / AFP / Getty
An aerial view shows blooming cherry trees at the Heerstrasse in Bonn, Germany, on April 8, 2026.
Children climb a blooming cherry tree.
Lindsey Wasson / AP
Children climb a blooming cherry tree at the University of Washington, on April 5, 2026, in Seattle.
A bird flies low, above the water, as steam rises from a lake.
Carl de Souza / AFP / Getty
A bird flies as steam rises from a lake in Chapultepec Park in Mexico City on April 2, 2026.
A close view of an Indigenous man wearing a traditional feathered headdress and makeup
Jorge Silva / Reuters
An Indigenous Pataxo man takes part in a ritual dance during the Acampamento Terra Livre (“Free Land”) camp, as they protest and demand the demarcation of Indigenous lands and defend constitutional and cultural rights, in Brasília, Brazil, on April 8, 2026.
Three young boys ride in a small cart attached to the back of a pony.
Isabel Infantes / Reuters
Binnie and his brothers Kenny and Johnny celebrate winning a special rosette during the London Horse Harness Parade, an event bringing together more than 100 horse-drawn vehicles and carriages, in Ardingly, West Sussex, England, on April 6, 2026.
A girl plays with a baby goat.
Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters
A girl plays with a baby goat in Manikganj, Bangladesh, on April 8, 2026.

About the Author

Alan Taylor is a senior editor at The Atlantic.
Explore More Topics