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)

2016 Rio Olympics, Weightlifting, Final, Women's 69kg, Riocentro, Pavilion 2, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 10, 2016. Leidy Solis (COL) of Colombia competes. (Photo by Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)

Women perform yoga on a dried river bank in Yunyang county, Chongqing Municipality, August 21, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

In this photo taken Wednesday, March 8, 2017, a woman herder sits with her goats in a remote desert area near Bandar Beyla in Somalia's semiautonomous northeastern state of Puntland. Somalia has declared the drought a national disaster, part of what the United Nations calls the largest humanitarian crisis since the world body was founded in 1945, and with animals being central to many the drought threatens their main sources of nutrition and survival. (Photo by Ben Curtis/AP Photo)

A sewer cleaner of Dhaka City Corporation cleaning out the city's sewers on May 03, 2017 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Despite a rise in the number of deaths of manhole workers every year, workers regularly go into the manholes without any protective gear. (Photo by Zakir Chowdhury/Barcroft Images)

An Iranian Shiite Muslim prays in Laylat al-Qadr, or the night of destiny, during holy fasting month of Ramadan after midnight, in central Tehran, Iran, early Sunday, June 18, 2017. Laylat al-Qadr is the night when Muslims believe the Quran was first revealed to prophet Muhammad. Worshipers gather in religious ceremonies to pray, ask forgiveness and make wishes on one of the most important nights of the Islamic calendar. Shiite Muslims, the vast majority of Iranians, believe the night happens either on 19th, 21st or 23rd of the holy month of Ramadan. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

Convicted murderer Hector Alvarado Mazariegos, right, drops to the ground as he is hit by bullets of a Guatemala firing squad in the public cemetery at Mazatenango, June 28, 1975. His companion, Rocael Ortiz, met the same fate a few seconds later. Both were convicted of murder. (Photo by AP Photo/Anzueto)

Russian soldiers from 34th motorized infantry mountain brigade, 58th Army, prepare to evacuate a fellow soldier acting as an injured person during a drill at the Darial range outside Russia's city of Vladikavkaz, July 28, 2010. (Photo by Kazbek Basayev/Reuters)