Hot-air balloons glide over the historical Cappadocia region with Turkish flags to mark August 30 Turkiye's Victory Day in Nevsehir, Turkiye on August 30, 2023. (Photo by Behcet Alkan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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)

A reveler from Vila Isabel samba school performs during the second night of the carnival parade at the Sambadrome, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on February 21, 2023. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

US freestyler, gold medalist Mcrae Williams competes during the men' s SlopeStyle (SS) finals at the FIS Snowboard and Freestyle Ski World Championships 2017 in Sierra Nevada on March 19, 2017. (Photo by Albert Gea/Reuters)

Bulgarian men dance in the icy waters of the Tundzha river during a celebration to commemorate Epiphany Day in the town of Kalofer January 6, 2015. It is believed that the ritual will bring good health to the participants throughout the new year. (Photo by Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)

In advance of Fleet Week performances, U.S. Navy Blue Angels fly above San Francisco with Team Oracle aerobatics pilots Sean D. Tucker and Jessy Panzer on Thursday, October 10, 2019. (Photo by Noah Berger/AP Photo)

People who live in nearby villages make their yearly pilgrimage as they walk up the slopes of the Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico, Wednesday, March 12, 2014. Every year on March 12, residents make their way up the volcano celebrate the day of Don Gregorio Chino Popocatepetl, as the volcano is known to them, with food, music, dance and fireworks. When the sun rises, hundreds of pilgrims head out from the towns of Santiago Xalintzintla, Tlamacas and San Nicolas de Los Ranchos in van and trucks to drive, then walk up the 17,886-foot (5,450-meter) volcano for their daylong celebration. (Photo by Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo)

A cygnet keeps snug under its mother’s wing at Heronry Pond in Wanstead Park in east London in the last decade of May 2024. (Photo by Jeff Moore/The Times)