There are only a dozen. That’s all, for the moment. More will surely be released (and there are many more), but these few are staggering. Viewed individually and as a collection, 12 recently released aerial photographs of New York under attack, showing the smoking and crumbling Twin Towers, and the ash covered acreage of South Manhattan provide a shockingly vivid alternative view of September 11, 2001, to the mostly ground-view photographs and video that have been etched in our memory.

The photographs are taken from a police helicopter. On that blue-sky Tuesday morning, the police helicopter carried the only photographers allowed in the airspace around the World Trade Center after the first tower was hit. One of those photographers was now-retired detective Greg Semendinger of the New York Police Department. The 12 shots are some of the over 300 photographs he snapped on 9/11. Some of Detective Semendinger’s photos were handed over to the 9/11 Commission and were being held by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the federal agency that investigated the collapse of the towers. The 12 photos were part of 2,779 obtained by ABC News after the US television network filed a Freedom of Information Act request in 2009 with the NIST.

But while these photos are new to many eyes, they may look familiar to some. According to the Associated Press, Detective Semendinger “e-mailed some of the photos to friends and several were posted on the Internet. Later, nine of the images were published in a book called Above Hallowed Ground: A Photographic Record of Sept. 11without his consent. The book was a tribute to the officers who were killed that day.”

Nonetheless, these are striking and haunting images, providing a perspective that until now was widely unseen. Silence fills the photos, as they are devoid of life. From a distance we see only concrete, glass, smoke and debris. The pictures show massive destruction and monstrous, devouring clouds of dust that are normally reserved for Hollywood blockbusters. Of course, the reality of it all is what makes the viewer gasp.

Eight of the photos are reproduced below. To view the original 12-image ABC News slide show clickhere. Otherwise, click any picture below to begin this shorter slide show:

Photos are courtesy ABC News.