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)

“Photographer Seth Casteel has definitely taken animal photography to new heights – or depths – with his hilarious photos of dogs chasing balls underwater. Casteel, who, naturally, has two dogs of his own (a mini Labradoodle and a Norwich terrier), said that he's drawn to underwater dog photography because the photos show a side of dogs that people may have never seen before”.

Photo: Seth Casteel Underwater Dog Pictures (Photo by Seth Casteel)

Split Apple Rock is a geological rock formation in The Tasman Bay off the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Made of granite, it is in the shape of an apple which has been cut in half. It is a popular tourist attraction in the waters of the Tasman Sea approximately 50 metres off the coast between Kaiteriteri and Marahau. The rock sits in shallow water at low tide and is accessible by wading. It is also a point of interest for the many tourist boats and pleasure craft which operate along the shores of the Abel Tasman National Park. The cleft to produce two sides of the 'apple' was a natural occurrence. It is unknown when this happened and therefore the cleaving of the rock has attracted mythological explanations.

An Egyptian dancer performs the Tanoura outside a coffee shop at al-Muizz street in the old Islamic quarter of Cairo on August 29, 2024. (Photo by Khaled Desouki/AFP Photo)

How awkward! Michelle Rodriguez (35) got very visibly drunk and sloppily kissed model Cara Delevigne (21) at the January 7 New York Knicks game, in what has to be the greatest public waste of court side seats of all time. Photo: Detroit Pistons vs. New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, January 7, 2014. Actress Michelle Rodriguez and model Cara Delevingne sitting in the front row during the 4th quarter. The two were hugging and touching each other and Rodriguez appeared to be very intoxicated. (Photo by Anthony J. Causi/Charles Wenzelberg/The New York Post)

Summer Zhai and Vicky He, dressed as characters from the anime "Love Live!", rest on stairs during day two of New York Comic Con in Manhattan, New York, October 9, 2015. The event draws thousands of costumed fans, panels of pop culture luminaries and features a sprawling floor of vendors in a space equivalent to more than three football fields at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center on Manhattan's West side. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Roma's Gianluca Mancini scores his team's goal in the 1-0 Rome derby victory over Lazio at Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy on April 6, 2024. (Photo by Alberto Lingria/Reuters)

In this Friday, August 9, 2019, file photo, Pakistan Rangers soldiers face Indian Border Security Force soldiers at a daily closing ceremony on the Indian side of the Attari-Wagah border. India's recent clampdown has a long history in Kashmir and the conflict has existed since the late 1940s, when India and Pakistan won independence from the British empire and began fighting over rival claims to the Muslim-majority territory. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three subsequent wars over Kashmir, and each administers a portion of the region. India has long seen the Kashmiri struggle for self-determination as Islamabad's proxy war against New Delhi. (Photo by Prabhjot Gill/AP Photo/File)