Tommy Lindsey holds an enormous maple leaf that he found in Mount Vernon, Wash., October 28, 2013. Lindsey was walking with his family when he picked up the leaf that is more than two feet from stem to tip and more than 21 inches wide. (Photo by Frank Varga/The Skagit Valley Herald)

A soldier under Russian command restrains a colleague after he fired his weapon into the air and screamed orders to turn back at an approaching group of over 100 unarmed Ukrainian troops at the Belbek airbase, which the Russian troops are occcupying, in Crimea on March 4, 2014 in Lubimovka, Ukraine. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A four-month-old snow fox cub named “Vesna” (“Spring”) leaps next to a Zoo employee at the Royev Ruchey Zoo in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, on August 6, 2013. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station experiences months of darkness. The sun dips below the horizon on March 21, after which follows several weeks of twilight before complete darkness results. Photo taken on June 25, 2009. (National Science Foundation/Jeremy Johnson)

Russia's Ekaterina Birlova casts a shadow on the sand as she serves to Poland during a women's beach volleyball match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, August 9, 2016. (Photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo)

A bishop walks past a new street-art collage by Italian artist Maupal showing Pope Francis playing tic-tac-toe and drawing peace signs as a Swiss guard keep watches the street near the Vatican on October 19, 2016 in Rome. (Photo by Tiziana Fabi/AFP Photo)

A woman arrives at the Shinto Meiji Shrine to pray on the first day of the new year in Tokyo, Japan, January 1, 2016. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

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)