A Muslim faithful display her henna decoration before attending Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, at the Masjid Salaam grounds in Nairobi, Kenya on April 21, 2023. (Photo by Monicah Mwangi/Reuters)

Participants take part in a high-wheel bicycle race in the Frederick county, in Maryland, United States on July 15, 2023. (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Jazmin Sawyers of Great Britain competes in the Women's Long Jump Final during the Athletics competition on day 8 of the European Championships Munich 2022 at Olympiapark on August 18, 2022 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

People take photos in a field of Yellow Desert Sunflowers as wildflowers begin to bloom in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California after a record-setting wet winter of rain, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California, U.S. March 20, 2024. (Photo by David Swanson/Reuters)

The competition, which is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine, is now in its sixth year and has received over 2,500 entries. Photo: Centre of the Heart Nebula by Ivan Eder (Hungary). Situated 7500 light years away in the “W”-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia, the Heart Nebula is a vast region of glowing gas, energized by a cluster of young stars at its centre. The image depicts the central region, where dust clouds are being eroded and moulded into rugged shapes by the searing cosmic radiation. (Photo by Ivan Eder)

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)

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)

A green iguana, or American iguana sits on an Aldabra giant tortoise, the largest tortoise of the world, in their enclosure at the zoo park of Lille, northern France, on February 11, 2019. (Photo by Philippe Huguen/AFP Photo)