This awesome photo was sent to us by Heather Miracle, who helped her cousin, Jason U., an 11th grader at Fairfax Baptist Temple Academy, make the image for a school contest. Using a Canon EOS 60D on a tripod, they sat at Gravelly Point – on a day with a gale force wind warning – and took 663 images over three hours. Using Photoshop, he made the final image as a composite with 100 layers. Great job, Jason, it’s gotta be a shoo-in for that contest! Remember you can submit photos to us through our Flickr group or by dropping us a link via our contact form. (Hat tip to Exposed pal Leo for directing Heather to us.)

Don’t forget there’s still a few opportunities to visit the Exposed DC Photography Show at Capital Fringe, including tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. You can also see it Saturday, March 28, 6 to 8 p.m., and join us for our closing reception on Saturday, April 11, 4 to 8 p.m. Fringe has a bar so stop by to grab a beer and see the show without the crowds before you head to dinner on H Street. If you’d like to buy any of the photos in the show, you can do so easily at our online marketplace. You can also get the 2015 exhibition magazine for $10, which comes with a free digital copy.

And now, your Friday Links:

• A huge G4 class (the scale goes to 5) solar storm delivered spectacular aurora photo opportunities into unexpected latitudes of both hemispheres.
• The New York Times launched a new Instagram feed, @nytimes: “Rather than breaking news on the platform, we will focus on our strongest images and offer some insights into how they were made. We’re going to be looking at both the work of our own photographers — on assignment and off — and that of the wider Instagram community.”
• David Williams’ series “Bowling: The Midwest” celebrates the few remaining bowling alleys still standing in Middle America, and the dedicated owners who want to keep them going.
• India Today posted an image showing parents scaling multistory buildings to help their kids cheat on exams.
• Ilana Panich-Linsman was forced to question her ideas about youth and beauty as she followed one contestant in the world of children’s beauty pageants.
• Michele Crowe captures the diversity of 21st century families in her ambitious series “The Universal Family”.
• The European Space Agency collaborated with photographer Edgar Martins for these unique images of space equipment.
• Scientists recently got another peek of the ridiculously cute Ili pika in China after they first discovered it 20 years earlier.