Aurorae category runner-up: Lone Tree under a Scandinavian Aurora by Tom Archer (UK). The photographer decided to explore the area around the hotel on a very crisp -35C evening in Finnish Lapland. When he found this tree, he decided to wait for the misty conditions to change and could not believe his luck when the sky cleared and the aurora came out in the perfect spot. Archer spent about an hour photographing it before his camera started to lock up because of the harsh conditions, but by then he was happy to call it a night. (Photo by Tom Archer/2020 Astronomy Photographer of the Year)

This Thursday, January 22, 2015 photo made with a long exposure shows the glow from a Noctiluca scintillans algal bloom along the seashore in Hong Kong. The luminescence, also called Sea Sparkle, is triggered by farm pollution that can be devastating to marine life and local fisheries, according to University of Georgia oceanographer Samantha Joye. Noctiluca itself does not produce neurotoxins like other similar organisms do. But its role as both prey and predator tends can eventually magnify the accumulation of toxins in the food chain, according to R. Eugene Turner at Louisiana State University. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

Ziripot, a traditional figure stuffed with straw, is helped up during Carnival celebrations in the Navarran village of Lantz, on February 16, 2015. (Photo by Vincent West/Reuters)

The alligator trying to crack the turtles tough shell. These incr-edible pictures by Patrick Castleberry capture a real-life mutant ninja turtles hardy victory over a mighty ALLIGATOR during an exhaustive battle of brute strength.

A campaign model demonstrates crazy eyes glasses during the International Tokyo Toy Show 2016 in Tokyo, Japan, 09 June 2016. The trade show opens to the general public on 11 and 12 June. (Photo by Christopher Jue/EPA)

A staff member (R) looks on next to a cake, which was baked in the shape of a muscular man, for customers to try for free during a promotional event of a cake store in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China, December 6, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A painting of a Trabant car bursting through a wall in post unification Berlin, August 1993. (Photo by Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“The McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender is an air-to-air tanker aircraft in service with the United States Air Force derived from the civilian DC-10-30 airliner. The KC-10 was the second consecutive McDonnell Douglas transport aircraft to be selected by the US Air Force following the C-9 Nightingale. The similar KDC-10 is in service with the Royal Netherlands Air Force.”

Photo: A B-52G Stratofortress aircraft takes off with another B-52G close behind. Three cells of six B-52 and KC-10 Extender aircraft will takeoff seconds apart under combat conditions during the minimum interval takeoff exercise. The exercise is a part of an operational readiness inspection by the Strategic Air Command Inspector General Team. (Photo by USAF). 1998