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)

Festival-goers enjoy a fairground ride at Reading Festival in Reading, west of London, on August 27, 2021. As coronavirus covid-19 infection levels rise across the country, vaccines will be offered to revellers throughout the weekend. The organiser of Reading and Leeds Festivals has said such events are arguably “safer places to be” because attendees have been tested for covid-19. The festivals are returning this year with headliners including Stormzy, after being cancelled last year due to the pandemic. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP Photo)

Valik Vladimirovich plays dressed as a soldier in Stoyanka outskirts Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, May 30, 2022. (Photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo)

A Chinese girl in traditional dress eats her lunch in a Five Guys restaurant in between shooting videos for her Chinese social media account on October 18, 2023 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Young Legong dancer portrait, Ubud, Bali on October 25, 2023. While the childrens' parents are out working, in pursuits including farming, fishing and clothes making, their offspring spend the long sunny days making their own fun, and as these pictures show not a minute is wasted. (Photo by David Lazar/Animal News Agency)

Model Nikita Dragun gets her hair and makeup touched up backstage at The Blonds fashion show at Spring Place on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, in New York. (Photo by Brittainy Newman/AP Photo)

A shepherd and his flock in the Bitlis province of eastern Turkey in the first decade of April 2024. Shepherds regularly embark on gruelling journeys through the dusty outback, as they take their sheep to the high plateaus needed for grazing and then back to villages for milking. (Photo by Kahraman Kaya/Solent News)

A young girl pulls on her braids during the Red Head Days festival in Tilburg, Netherlands, Saturday, August 30, 2025. (Photo by Virginia Mayo/AP Photo)