View from the Insta360 360 degree camera in the last decade of November 2023 attached to a satellite launched 500km into outer space. Chinese firm Insta360 say they have achieved “the first fully exposed camera in space” a feat which required a lot of preparation to get X2 ready for the harsh environment. (Photo by South West News Service)

A deer walks across a pedestrian crossing in Nara, Japan, Thursday, March 19, 2020. More than 1,000 deer roam free in the ancient capital city of Japan. Despite the town's tourism decline, these wild animals are doing just fine without treats from tourists, according to a deer protection group. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

Japanese ornamental dolls (hina dolls) are displayed on the stone steps at Tomisaki shrine during the Katsuura Big Hinamatsuri festival in Katsuura city of Chiba prefecture on February 28, 2023. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)

Tourists dressed in yukatas, a light, unlined, summer kimono made of cotton instead of the traditional silk, climb steps to visit a temple on April 27, 2016 in Kyoto, Japan. Now the seventh largest city in Japan, Kyoto was once the Imperial capital for more than one thousand years, it is now the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture and a major part of the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Tomomi Ota pushes a trolley loaded with her humanoid robot Pepper as she crosses a street in Omotesando shopping district in Tokyo, Japan, 24 March 2016. Telecommunications and mobile phone carrier SoftBank Corp. opened a robot-staffed store where 10 Pepper humanoid robots welcome customers looking to buy a mobile phone. The store will be opened until 30 March 2016. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA)

A truck lays overturned onto a car following strong winds at a Kurnell industrial park after a rare tornado hit the Sydney suburb December 16, 2015. The tornado hit Sydney on Wednesday with destructive winds above 200 km an hour (125 mph) and cricket ball-sized hail, bringing down trees and power lines, tearing off roofs, overturning vehicles and causing flash flooding. (Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)

Isabella Busse, 6, walks through floodwater near the Seal Beach Pier during a storm in Seal Beach, Calif., Sunday, January 22, 2017. The heavy downpour on Sunday drenched Orange County in one of the heaviest storms of the year. Fast-moving floodwaters swept through California mountain communities and residents fled homes below hillsides scarred by wildfires as the third in the latest series of storms brought a deluge Sunday and warnings about damaging mudslides. (Photo by Ana Venegas/The Orange County Register via AP Photo)

Second Place Winner: “Thunderstorm at False Kiva”. I hiked out to these ruins at night hoping to photograph them with the Milky Way, but instead a thunderstorm rolled through, creating this dramatic image. – Max Seigal. National Geographic Traveler Director of Photography Dan Westergren, one of this year's judges, shares his thoughts on the second place winner: “This photo combines two different scenes into one: the small kiva in a cliff dwelling and the grand vista of Canyonlands National Park across the valley. I really like the two different color palettes – warm inside and purple outside. This two-for-one scene was caused by the lightning storm outside the dwelling, which lit up the landscape like it was a huge electronic flash. Looking at this picture I can imagine what a wonderful sight it must have been for the ancient people who lived here. It doesn't seem too amazing now in our modern world, but might have been mind-blowing for the prehistoric residents”. Location: Utah. (Photo and caption by Max Seigal/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)