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)

Participants gather during a traditional hunting contest, involving tamed golden eagles and hawks, in Almaty, Kazakhstan on December 1, 2018. (Photo by Pavel Mikheyev/Reuters)

Women jump into the water during a traditional New Year bath in the Adriatic sea in Portoroz, Slovenia on January 1, 2018. (Photo by Jure Makovec/AFP Photo)

A surfer runs down the beach past hundreds of Barbie dolls comprising the sculpture 'Wave 2' by West Australian artist Annette Thas on Tamarama Beach during the 19th annual Sculptures by the Sea exhibition in Sydney, October 23, 2015. Sydney's coastal walk between Bondi and Tamarama has been transformed into a temporary sculpture park featuring over 100 sculptures from Australian and international artists, billed as the largest free sculpture exhibition in the world. (Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)

A remote-controlled plane in the form of a witch flies over a neighborhood as the sun sets during Halloween in Encinitas, California, U.S. October 31, 2016. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

Competitors make their way up Heartbreak Hill during the 2022 City to Surf on August 14, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

Dancers from Cuba's National Ballet rehearse under the leadership of U.S. choreographer Jessica Lang as they prepare next month's International Ballet Festival in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, September 1, 2022. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

Recruits carry ammunition during a military training at a firing range in the Rostov-on-Don region in southern Russia, on October 4, 2022. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the military has recruited over 200,000 reservists as part of a partial mobilization launched two weeks ago. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)