Jonathan Kingston | Science & Environment Photography

The Mauna Loa Solar Observatory and the air sampling tower at the Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii. A one hour, five minute long exposure produces star trails, or circular paths of the stars around the celestial poles due to the earths rotation. (130 separate exposures of 30 seconds duration each of the same subject matter are sandwiched together to form the star trails)

The Lidar laser and air sampling tower at the Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii. Lidar is used for long term monitoring of the stratospheric aerosol layer and can detect changes of airborne particulate matter such as airborne volcanic ash. Stratospheric aerosols cool the earth by reflecting light back into space.

The Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy (AMiBA), at the Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii. Also known as the Yuan-Tseh Lee Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy the radio telescope is designed to observe thermal radation in the cosmos.

Material evidence from an excavation site in the laboratory of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command or JPAC, Hickam AFB, Hawaii. The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command is located on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The command was activated on Oct. 1, 2003, created from the merger of the 30-year-old U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii, and the 11-year-old Joint Task Force - Full Accounting. The mission of JPAC is to achieve the fullest possible accounting of all Americans missing as a result of the nation's past conflicts. On average, JPAC identifies about six MIAs each month. To date, the U.S. government has identified over 1,400 individuals.

Dr. Joan Baker, a scientist at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command located on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, conducts a skeletal analysis of the remains of a soldier to establish a positive identification. Lab scientists use a variety of techniques to establish the identification of missing Americans, including analysis of skeletal and dental remains, sampling mitochondrial DNA, and analyzing material evidence, personal effects and life support equipment. The command was activated on Oct. 1, 2003, created from the merger of the 30-year-old U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii, and the 11-year-old Joint Task Force - Full Accounting. The mission of JPAC is to achieve the fullest possible accounting of all Americans missing as a result of the nation's past conflicts. On average, JPAC identifies about six MIAs each month. To date, the U.S. government has identified over 1,400 individuals.

Skeletal remains of a soldier undergoing forensic analysis in JPAC's Central Identification Laboratory on Oahu, Hawaii.

A shadowgraph of a bullet being fired through piano wire and the resulting bullet bow shockwave.

Visualization of the Coriolis effect demonstrated in a long exposure with a simulated Foucault pendulm.

High speed photography captures a drop of water as it falls and rebounds in liquid.

Kamakou preserve on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. Over 200 plants in this rainforest can be found nowhere else in the world.

A fern in the Kamakou preserve, Molokai, Hawaii. Over 200 plants in the Kamakou preserve can be found nowhere else in the world.

A conceptual image of the earth seen thru the concentric circles left by a drop of water.