Some of the best entries so far in the 2016 Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. There are two weeks left to enter, and the winners will be announced in September. Here: Aurora over Laksvatn Fjord, Laksvatn, Norway. The aurora borealis dances in the skies over the town of Laksvatn, with the Milky Way to the left. The image is a single shot with no compositing, only post-processing to bring out the aurora, and some colour corrections. The photographer Matt Walford said: “I love the way the northern lights look like they are just wistfully dancing over the fjord, framed by the mountains on either side”. (Photo by Matt Walford/National Maritime Museum)

An RNLI Lifeboat crashes through waves during a multi-agency exercise to test emergency response, at Camber Sands, East Sussex, England, Thursday, September 28, 2023. The multi-agency exercise, organised by South East Coast Ambulance Service, (SECAmb) also includes Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, Rother District Council, HM Coastguard and RNLI Lifeguards. (Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Wire via AP Photo)

Lightning strikes as smoke billows following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. The death toll from the unprecedented assault by Palestinian militant group Hamas on its territory rose to 900 in Israel, which has retaliated with a withering barrage of strikes on Gaza, raising the death toll there to 687. (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP Photo)

An abandoned tank left by Boko Haram, February 20, 2016, seen on the road to Michika, Nigeria – a town formerly occupied by the insurgents. On April 14, 2014, 300 schoolgirls in the Chibok village in Nigeria were kidnapped by the terrorist group, Boko Haram. Two years later, the majority of these girls are still missing. According to the Global Terrorism Index Report 2015, Boko Haram, which operates mainly in Nigeria, has become the most deadly terrorist group in the world. (Photo by Danielle Villasana)

Ultra Orthodox Jews look at the body of an alleged Palestinian assailant in Jerusalem Saturday, December 26, 2015. According to a police spokeswoman, policemen approached a man who drew their suspicions just outside the Old City for following a pair of Jewish worshippers. Then he pulled out a knife and tried to stab one of them, officers opened fire and killed the assailant. (Photo by Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo)

A boy jumps into a pool of mud during the traditional “Bloco da Lama” or “Mud Street” carnival party, in Paraty, Brazil, Saturday, February 25, 2017. Legend has it the “bloco” was born in 1986 after local teens hiking in a nearby mangrove forest smeared themselves with mud to discourage mosquitoes and then wandered through Paraty. The party grew year after year, but revelers eventually were banned from parading in the colonial downtown after shopkeepers complained pristine white walls were stained with the hard-to-remove mud. (Photo by Mauro Pimentel/AP Photo)

A tourist stands on a paddle boat near soldiers taking part on a military and police drill in preparation for the temporary closure of the holiday island Boracay in Philippines on April 24, 2018. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

A young supporter of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dressed like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives with his mother during a public meeting addressed by Modiin Hyderabad, India, Sunday, July 3, 2022. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A./AP Photo)