(Image: Ingólfur Bjargmundsson)
This stunning image of the aurora borealis illuminating the weird underground world of a vast cave in Iceland is vying for an award.
Photographer Ingólfur Bjargmundsson lay in wait in the frozen 1360-metre-long lava cave to capture this image of the aurora borealis at its peak through one of the cave's natural skylights.
The snow pedestals on which Bjargmundsson's silhouetted subjects are standing accumulate under the skylights in places where the roof has caved in.
This stunning photo is a contender in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year award at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London. The winners will be announced on 18 September, and then there will be a free exhibition of the winning images.
If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.