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)

Iraqis who have fled fighting between security forces and al-Qaida inspired militants in their hometown of Tal Afar arrive in a car at Germawa camp for displaced Iraqis, in a hot dusty plain in the largely-autonomous Kurdish area of Dahuk, 260 miles (430 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad Tuesday, June 17, 2014. (Photo by AP Photo)

A truck creates a wake as its driver tries to navigate a severely flooded street as heavy rains pour down Monday, September 8, 2014, in Phoenix. Storms that flooded several Phoenix-area freeways and numerous local streets during the Monday morning commute set an all-time record for rainfall in Phoenix in a single day. (Photo by Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo)

A brushtail possum whose ears and legs have been burnt from recent bushfires sits in a cage before being transported to a wildlife hospital, in Batemans Bay, South of Sydney, Australia, 14 January 2020. (Photo by Steven Saphore/EPA/EFE)

A woman wearing a face mask as a precaution against the COVID-19 while using smartphone in a subway train in Hong Kong, Thursday, February 27, 2020. As the worst-hit areas of Asia continued to struggle with a viral epidemic, with hundreds more cases reported Thursday in South Korea and China, worries about infection and containment spread across the globe. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

A Police officer reacts to protestors outside the Piet Retief Magistrates court where the five accused in the shooting of the Coka brothers on the Pampoenkraal farm appeared, Mhkondo, Mpumalanga, South Africa on April 19, 2021. (Photo by Jacques Nelles)

English singer and songwriter Dua Lipa performs during the Brit Awards 2021 at the O2 Arena, London, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (Photo by Ian West/PA Wire via AP Photo)

Children ride on the back of a truck at a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Marib, Yemen on September 9, 2021. (Photo by Ali Owidha/Reuters)