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)

Participants enjoy the “Color Me Run” festival in Hanoi, Vietnam, 28 May 2016. The festival which was inspired by the Holi Festival from India, attracted thousands of teenagers this year. (Photo by Luong Thai Linh/EPA)

Singer Madonna performs during her concert at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France, December 9, 2015, on her Rebel Heart Tour. (Photo by Benoit Tessier/Reuters)

A couple takes selfie pictures amid heart shaped decorations setted for Valentine's day, in Bangkok, Thailand on February 14, 2021. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

A woman carries a heart shaped balloon while sitting with her husband on a motorbike during Valentine's day, in Karachi on February 14, 2021. (Photo by Rizwan Tabassum/AFP Photo)

The Britain’s Got Talent host Amanda Holden, 48, showed off her flexibility in knee-high boots in the corridors of Heart FM in London, England on February 3, 2020. (Photo by The Sun)

A cat walks in front of the body of a man killed by unknown gunmen in Manila, Philippines early October 18, 2016. A sign on a cardboard found near the body reads, “Pusher Ako, Wag Tularan”, which translates to “I am a (drug) pusher, don't be like me”. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)