Some of the best entries so far in the 2016 Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. There are two weeks left to enter, and the winners will be announced in September. Here: Aurora over Laksvatn Fjord, Laksvatn, Norway. The aurora borealis dances in the skies over the town of Laksvatn, with the Milky Way to the left. The image is a single shot with no compositing, only post-processing to bring out the aurora, and some colour corrections. The photographer Matt Walford said: “I love the way the northern lights look like they are just wistfully dancing over the fjord, framed by the mountains on either side”. (Photo by Matt Walford/National Maritime Museum)

Wildlife category, open shortlist. “Buffaloes and stars”. This picture, taken at Zimanga game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, used an in-camera multiple exposure, with the first lit for the buffaloes and the second focused on the stars. (Photo and caption by Andreas Hemb/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

An Olive Ridley sea turtle hatchling releases into the sea at Lhoknga beach, Indonesia's Aceh province on January 16, 2024. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)

The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, glow in the sky over St Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the North East coast, UK on Friday, May 10, 2024. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)

An Icelandic mare and her foal stand on a meadow at a stud farm in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Aerialists of the Hungarian troupe Vincze Tunde Production perform on the opening night of Strand Festival in Zamardi, Hungary, 20 August 2025. (Photo by Tamas Vasvari/EPA)

People walk under a light projection during the Shanghai International Light Festival at a shopping mall complex in Shanghai on September 22, 2025. (Photo by Jade Gao/AFP Photo)

Erika Kirk stands next to the microphone which was used by Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on the day he was killed as she waits to greet U.S. Vice President JD Vance before closing out AmericaFest, the first Turning Point USA summit since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. on December 21, 2025. (Photo by Cheney Orr/Reuters)