Aurora Australis from Beerbarrel Beach, by James Stone. Runner Up: Aurorae. (Photo by James Stone/Astronomy Photographer of the Year)

A volunteer approaches a male toad to pick him up from a road near Berlin on March 18, 2012 in Gueterfelde, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Pod of dolphins surf effortlessly through the waves in the wild traveling at speeds up to 20 mph. (Photo by Greg Huglin)

A flash of lightning lights up a raincloud hovering over a township in Dharmsala, India, Sunday, April 19, 2020. (Photo by Ashwini Bhatia/AP Photo)

A person looks up at the Aurora Australis in Judbury in the Huon Valley, Tasmania on April 24, 2023. (Photo by Toby Schrapel freelance photography/The Guardian)

English-Albanian singer and songwriter Dua Lipa soaks up Japan in the last decade of November 2023. (Photo by Dualipa/Instagram)

Close up of a couple, with the woman holding the man's knee, underneath a table. (Photo by Peter Dazeley/Getty Images)

A folk artist performs a stunning fire-pot performance on October 18, 2024 in Guangzhou,Guangdong Province of China.Huohu (fire pot) is a traditional folk performance art.Performers put well-burned charcoal into iron meshes on both sides and shake the meshes up and down so that the charcoal will flare up and blazing sparks will burst out of the meshes and light up the sky just like fireworks. (Photo by John Ricky/Anadolu via Getty Images)