Canada-based photographer and graphic designer Ulric Collette came up with probably the coolest family photo shoot idea ever.

Gorgeous galaxies and stunning stars make up this selection of pictures from the shortlisted entries for this year’s Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year award. The winners will be announced on 15 September, and an exhibition of the winning images will be will be displayed in a free exhibition at the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Centre from 17 September. Here: “Seven Magic Points”. The rusty red swirls of the circular, iron sculpture Seven Magic Points in Brattebergan, Norway mirror the rippling aurora above. (Photo by Rune Engebø/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

Judges watch athletes during the women's individual compact NH 5km competition at the Nordic Combined World Cup in Ramsau, Austria, Saturday, December 16, 2023. (Photo by Matthias Schrader/AP Photo)

Celebrities Switch into their 2nd Outfits for the Met Gala After Parties on May 7, 2019. Pictured: Hailey Bieber. (Photo by DIGGZY/Splash News and Pictures)

A starling jealously guards a seed station in the back garden of the photographer’s Michigan home in January 2024. (Photo by Lisa Cavanary/Solent News)

A man wearing a “Pinhead” mask walks through the grounds of St Mary's Church, Whitby, during the Whitby Gothic festival taking place this weekend, on April 27, 2014. The twice yearly event attracts Goths from across the UK and beyond to the historic fishing town and is a great boost to the local economy. (Photo by Anna Gowthorpe/PA Wire)

A cat and a seagull feeding on a street in Heybeliada, the second largest of the Prince Islands in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbul, Turkey on February 01, 2017. (Photo by Sebnem Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

In this March 12, 2015 photo, a man tours a graffiti exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, in Bogota, Colombia. The city-run museum recently held an exhibition highlighting the work of Bogota street artists who go by aliases such as Joems and the MonsTruacioN collective. (Photo by Fernando Vergara/AP Photo)