16 Of The Most Powerful Photos Ever Taken in History

4Red Sand dunes of Namibia

This isn’t some Van Gogh painting but an actual scene of the Sossusvelie sand dunes in Namibia’s desert. The classic red sand dunes were formed millions of years ago. The red sand is formed by the deposits of the Orange River into the Atlantic Ocean where the Benguela current carries the sand again northwards to be deposited back inland where the wind carries it to form dunes over time.

Red Sand dunes of Namibia

5The Last Jew Vinnitsa

Several gruesome photos like these have been shot by the Nazis themselves who turned out to be the prime sources of evidence against their own crimes. This is a member of the elite SS Death Squad called Einsatzgruppe in the process of shooting a Jewish man. The cruel emotional methods employed by the squad didn’t spare people even before death where men like the one in the photo were made to kneel before mass graves before being shot in the head. This photo was taken in Vinnitsa, Ukraine in 1941. All the Jews living in Vinnitsa were massacred by the Nazis.

The Last Jew Vinnitsa

6Stars in outer space

The Hubble deep space telescope paints a petty picture as it captures hundreds of galaxies and stars just like they were billions of years ago. What we see as stars are the light of those celestial bodies emitted billions and millions of years ago, so effectively the light of a star is actually its past.

Stars in outer space

7Sunset on Mars

The Spirit (2004) Opportunity (2004) and Curiosity (2012) are Mars Rovers launched by NASA and still operational on the red planet. However, the spirit got trapped in sand and functioned as stationary rover. Communications ceased in 2011 but the latter two rovers have provided incredible insight of Mars and are still operational. This is a photo taken by the spirit rover in 2005 of a sunset on the horizon of Mars.