Since 2006, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been orbiting Mars, currently circling approximately 300 km (187 mi) above the Martian surface. On board the MRO is HiRISE, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, which has been photographing the planet for several years now at resolutions as fine as mere inches per pixel. Collected here is a group of images from HiRISE over the past few years, in either false color or grayscale, showing intricate details of landscapes both familiar and alien, from the surface of our neighboring planet, Mars. I invite you to take your time looking through these, imagining the settings - very cold, dry and distant, yet real. (35 photos total)

Pushkar Mela (or Pushkar Fair) is an annual five-day camel and livestock fair, held in the town of Pushkar in the state of Rajasthan, India, where over 25,000 camels are traded each year. The fair draws thousands of tourists, camels, camel traders, racers, locals and Hindu faithful who come to bathe in the sanctified Lake Pushkar - until the final day, Kartik Poornima, a Hindu holy day celebrated on the full moon day of the month of Kartik. Collected here are a handful of photographs from Associated Press photographer Kevin Frayer, from his trip to this year's Pushkar Mela. (30 photos total)

From October 31st through November 2nd, a number of festivals, holidays and solemnities take place, all loosely related and revolving around remembrance of the dead. Halloween, Samhain, All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day, the Day of the Dead and other festivals trace their origins back to Celtic, Aztec, Roman and Christian traditions. Halloween is largely a secular observation these days, All Souls and All Saints remain mainly Catholic observations, and the Day of the Dead is still largely a Latin American tradition, its roots in Mexico's Aztec heritage. Collected here are photographs over the past week from the varied observations of the Days of the Dead around the world. (37 photos total)

On Wednesday, October 28th, NASA launched its Ares I-X prototype vehicle, the first launch from Kennedy's pads of a vehicle other than the space shuttle since the Apollo Program's Saturn rockets were retired. NASA's Constellation Program's 327-foot-tall rocket produced 2.96 million pounds of thrust at liftoff and reached a speed of 100 mph in eight seconds. The two-minute sub-orbital test flight encountered a few problems along the way, as the launch pad was slightly damaged, a planned stage separation did not go quite according to plan, and a possible parachute failure led to a hard splashdown for its first stage. The Constellation program is under pressure as a recent committee report depicted it as overly expensive. The Obama administration is set to make a decision in the next several months about the near-term direction of U.S. Space Policy. (28 photos total)

After recent Pakistani military operations in Pakistan's own Swat Valley to push out Taliban insurgents who had taken control of the region, its operations are now more focused on the Taliban strongholds in the South Waziristan region. Pakistani troops and Taliban militants have been locked in intense clashes recently in the tribal area which has killed more than 150 people. Relief workers say that more than 120,000 people have been displaced by the fighting. Insurgent responses to the increased military pressure have included numerous bombings and suicide attacks, killing and injuring scores across Pakistan in recent weeks. Just today a car bomb in a busy marketplace in Peshawar killed more than 93 people, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an official visit - announcing the latest in a series of U.S. aid packages to Pakistan. (36 photos total)

Over the past month in Afghanistan it became clear that a Presidential runoff vote between President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah would need to take place. The Obama administration continued to deliberate on whether to commit further troops to the conflict, and at least 46 U.S. service members were killed, including 14 in two separate helicopter crashes today. A recent U.N. report recorded 1,500 Afghan civilian deaths in the first six months of 2009 alone, describing this as the deadliest year for civilians in Afghanistan since the start of the U.S.-led war against Taliban eight years ago. Collected here are some images of the country and conflict over the past month, part of an ongoing monthly series on Afghanistan. (43 photos total)

October 17th marked the celebration of Diwali among Hindus and other groups around the world. Diwali is also known as the "Festival of Lights" (the name translates as "row of lamps" in Sanskrit). The festival marks the homecoming of Hindu God Rama to Ayodhya after a 14-year exile in the forest following his victory over Ravana, and signifies the victory of good over evil, of light over darkness. Celebrants observe Diwali with fireworks, colorful lanterns, lamps, garlands, sweet treats and worship. Collected here are a handful of photographs of Diwali this year. (33 photos total)

The 2009 United Nations World Drug report, released earlier this year, notes that 2009 marks "the end of the first century of drug control (it all started in Shanghai in 1909)", and that the illicit drug market worldwide has now become a $320 billion-per-year industry. As drug-related violence in Mexico appears to continue unabated, and crackdowns in Afghanistan are being made against its massive opium crops, new efforts are also being made worldwide in methods of enforcement and treatment of recovering addicts. Collected here are a handful of recent images from the rough world of illegal drugs across the globe. (37 photos total)

Checking in with NASA's Cassini spacecraft, our current emissary to Saturn, some 1.5 billion kilometers (932 million miles) distant from Earth, we find it recently gathering images of the Saturnian system at equinox. During the equinox, the sunlight casts long shadows across Saturn's rings, highlighting previously known phenomena and revealing a few never-before seen images. Cassini continues to orbit Saturn, part of its extended Equinox Mission, funded through through September 2010. A proposal for a further extension is under consideration, one that would keep Cassini in orbit until 2017, ending with a spectacular series of orbits inside the rings followed by a suicide plunge into Saturn on Sept. 15, 2017. (previously: 1, 2, 3). (23 photos total)

Earlier this month (October 4th) was World Animal Day. Started in 1931, the day was set aside to celebrate animal life in all its forms around the world, and humankind's relationship with the animal kingdom. Collected below are 41 photographs of animals around the world, at play, at rest, at work and more, taken over the past several weeks. [Previously on TBP: World Animal Day 2008] (41 photos total)

The 2009 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships are taking place right now in London, England (until October 18th). London's O2 arena is housing a total of 437 gymnasts from 72 delegations competing for medals in ten events, plus the men's and women's individual all-around medals. The championships at the O2 Arena are seen as a preview of 2012, when London will host the Olympic games, and the O2 will house both basketball and gymnastic events. Collected here are some photographs of training and qualifying rounds from this year, the 41st World Championships. (36 photos total)

Spending a lot of time browsing through news images, I've come to admire the work of quite a few photojournalists, and thought it would be interesting to focus on their individual accomplishments by showing recent collections of their images here. Associated Press photographer Elizabeth Dalziel is based in Beijing, and has been documenting the people, places and events in China for the past several years, giving the world at large a glimpse into this region through her lens. Collected here are a recent handful of images of people from all walks of life, events large and small, and daily life in China, care of Elizabeth Dalziel. (38 photos total)