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)

Syrian girls carry bags with bread as people queue up outisde a bakery in a rebel held neighbourhood in the northern city of Aleppo on July 12, 2016. Since mid-2012, Aleppo has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east, and has suffered enormous destruction in the war that has killed more than 280,000 people nationwide. Last week, a government advance brought regime troops within firing range of the Castello Road, the only remaining supply route into the opposition-held east, effectively severing rebel neighbourhoods from the outside world. With their route to the outside world cut, there is no new flour coming to the city's bakeries, and fuel to light their ovens is also now hard to find. (Photo by Karam Al-Masri/AFP Photo)

The shadow of a partial eclipse is cast on to the cheek of a student on the roof of the Jana Dlugosza Academy in Czestochowa, Poland March 20, 2015. (Photo by Grzegorz Skowronek/Reuters/Agencja Gazeta)

“Himalayan Dog”. This dog just appeared out of nowhere and followed us for an entire week during our trekking trip in the Himalayan outback. He always used to sleep in front of our tent and guarded us in the nights. When I decided to get up at 4 a.m. to climb the next 5000 m peak for sunrise he accompanied me as well. On the top he was sitting for the entire 30 minutes on this place looking straight into the countryside. Photo location: Ladakh, India. (Photo and caption by Sebastian Wahlhuetter/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Two Chinese farmers got more than they bargained for when they pulled up the root of a fleece flower – and came face-to-face with the doppelganger of Homer Simpson, on May 17, 2013. The large root appears to have two bulging eyes and a prominent nose – giving it an uncanny resemblance to the famous cartoon character. With two offshoot roots shaped like arms, it even looks like it is pondering or confused – just what you would expect from the real Homer. (Photo by ImagineChina)

Visitors crowd an artificial wave swimming pool at a tourist resort to escape the summer heat in Daying county of Suining, Sichuan province, China, July 11, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

People ride a boat on the Tianquan Lake during a foggy day in Xuyi in China's eastern Jiangsu province on November 20, 2019. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

People decorate a street with candles inside oranges during the Epitaph ceremony during Good Friday's “Apokathelosis”, the Descent of Christ's dead body from the Cross, which forms a key part of Orthodox Easter, in the southern city of Leonidio, at the Peloponnese peninsula on April 26, 2019. Millions of Greeks flock to churches around the country this week to celebrate Easter, the country's foremost religious celebration. (Photo by Aris Messinis/AFP Photo)