An observer watches the Perseid meteor shower at Mount Hamilton in California, United States on August 13, 2023. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Walkers marvel at a fog bow over Curbar Edge, Derbyshire in the last decade of October 2023. The phenomenon is similar to a rainbow, but because the water droplets that cause fog are so small, its colours are very weak. (Photo by Richard Bowring/Animal News Agency)
Hot-air balloons fly over Metropolitano park during the International Hot-Air Balloon Festival in Leon, state of Guanajuato, Mexico on November 19, 2023. (Photo by Henry Romero/Reuters)
A spotted owlet appears to be playing peek-a-boo near Rancharda Lake in Ahmedabad, India on February 9, 2016. The species is common across the Indian subcontinent. (Photo by Caters News Agency)
Women wearing bikinis and Santa Claus hats participate in a promotional event to celebrate the upcoming Christmas at a ski resort in Xuchang, Henan province, December 23, 2014. Ten women wore Santa Claus-themed bikinis to welcome the coming Christmas in temperatures below zero Celsius. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)
People take turns stomping the Christopher Columbus statue after it was toppled in front of the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. (Photo by Leila Navidi/Star Tribune via AP Photo)
Sunrise over a moor viewed from Littaford Tor, Dartmoor, UK, 2016. Autumn visits the windswept moors and granite tors of Dartmoor earlier than the rest of the south-west. While there aren’t many trees here, autumn shades appear in golden ferns and tan heather. Littaford Tors, near Two Bridges and a mile from Princetown, is a short walk and can be combined with a visit to the adjacent Wistman’s Wood. (Photo by Stuart Holmes)
October winner. “A burst of the aurora borealis over Kirkjufell, taken in September 2016. This shot has been a holy grail for me and was finally captured after many trips”. MICK RYAN, JUDGE: Iceland is a hotspot for aurora photography and this composition of the symmetric, free-standing Kirkjufell and the trident waterfall is much-sought after. If you can time your visit when the aurora “kp” index is high and know the settings for nighttime aurora images, you may end up with a beautiful photograph like this. (Photo by DВ/The Guardian)