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)

Miss Alaska Emma Broyles, center, reacts after being crowned Miss America at Mohegan Sun, Thursday, December 16, 2021, in Uncasville, Conn. (Photo by Jessica Hill/AP Photo)

A grasshopper rests on a photographic camera during a meeting in the village of Alto Jamari called to face the threat of armed land grabbers invading the Uru-eu-wau-wau Indigenous Reservation near Campo Novo de Rondonia, Brazil on January 30, 2019. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

Photographer John Fatkin captured these jaw-dropping images of a rainbow and ferry on the River Tyne, England, with the iconic red-painted Herd Groyne Lighthouse. (Photo by Tom Fatkin/Cover Images)

A person looks up at the Aurora Australis in Judbury in the Huon Valley, Tasmania on April 24, 2023. (Photo by Toby Schrapel freelance photography/The Guardian)

A participant runs in high-heels as she competes in the Stiletto Run in Bucharest June 14, 2014. The annual 50 metres race requires participants to wear high-heels that are at least 7cm tall. (Photo by Bogdan Cristel/Reuters)

Postal worker Eddie Smith, dressed as Santa Claus, waves to a neighbor on his mail route in Washington, U.S., December 21, 2021. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Hannah Rice, 18, jumps from a stump after posing for a photograph next to a large bust of President Franklin D. Roosevelt while touring busts of U.S. presidents in Williamsburg, Va. on March 30, 2019. The statues were once part of an attraction called Presidents Park, which has since closed. (Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post)