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)

Performers in costume kiss as they take part in the carnival on the main Parade day of the Notting Hill Carnival in west London on August 27, 2018. Nearly one million people are expected by the organizers Sunday and Monday in the streets of west London' s Notting Hill to celebrate Caribbean culture at a carnival considered the largest street demonstration in Europe. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP Photo)

People collect fish on the beach during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Da Nang, Vietnam on May 6, 2020. (Photo by Kham via Reuters)

Scooby performs at halftime of the game between the TCU Horned Frogs and Texas Tech Red Raiders at Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas on January 30, 2024. (Photo by Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports)

LGBT activists take part in a “Rave Pride” demanding state support for the local LGBTQ outside Ukrainian President's office in Kyiv, Ukraine on July 30, 2021. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

This image made available by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 depicts NASA's Solar Probe Plus spacecraft approaching the sun. On Wednesday, NASA announced it will launch the probe in summer 2018 to explore the solar atmosphere. It will be subjected to brutal heat and radiation like no other man-made structure before. (Photo by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory via AP Photo)

A woman tries to catch snowflakes with her tongue during a snowfall on Chandragiri Hills in Kathmandu, Nepal on January 23, 2019. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Anti-pollution protesters wearing traditional costumes and contemporary gas masks ride bicycles in the Qingming Grand river park in Kaifeng, Henan Province, China on January 1, 2017. The Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau extended an “orange alert” for heavy air pollution for three more days. (Photo by SIPA Asia/Rex Features/Shutterstock)