Professor Xie Yong works on an art installation of a beaver, which is made out of plastic and around 300,000 needles, in Shenyang, Liaoning province, July 23, 2013. The needles, according to Xie, represent the pain felt by animals when their fur is taken off to produce clothing. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A four-month-old snow fox cub named “Vesna” (“Spring”) leaps next to a Zoo employee at the Royev Ruchey Zoo in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, on August 6, 2013. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

“Aurora over a glacier lagoon”. A vivid green overheaded aurrora pictured in Iceland's Vatnajokull National Park reflected almost symetrically in Jokulsrlon Glacier lagoon. A complete lack of wind and currrent combin in this sheltred lagoon scene to crete an arresting mirror effect giving the image a sensation of utter stillness. Despite theis there is motion on a suprising scale, as the loops and arcs of the aurora are shaped by the shifting forces of the Earth's magnetic field. James Woodend of Great Britain won the grand prize with the image, beating out more than 2,500 other entries. The Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 contest is judged by the Royal Observatory Greenwich and BBC Sky at Night magazine. (Photo by James Woodend/The Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 Contest)

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)

Four actors on horseback dressed in Game of Thrones related costumes carry the Queen's Baton as they make their way way along the Dark Hedges on August 29, 2017 in Antrim, Northern Ireland. The Dark Hedges near Stranocum in County Antrim featured as the King's Road in season two of Game of Thrones and has become a tourist mecca for fans of the television series along with other filming locations in the province. The Queen's Baton Relay is currently on a tour of the United Kingdom as it makes its way around Europe in preparation for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Children of a vendor pose with demon-masks to be hung outside homes believed to ward off negative energy during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, at a roadside stall in Hyderabad, on April 18, 2020. (Photo by Noah Seelam/AFP Photo)

Boys contort their faces as they participate in a game where they need to slide a coin from their forehead to their mouth to win, during the annual Feast Day of St. Rita of Cascia in Manila, Philippines on May 19, 2019. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)

Sharafkhaneh port and lake Urmia. Masoud Ghadiri (Iran). The summer Milky Way is very prominent in this photo. On the galaxy zone, Saturn is located besides the Lagoon nebula. On the right of the horizon, you can see the extreme light pollution of Urmia, which is caused by ever-increasing city development. (Photo by Masoud Ghadiri/National Maritime Museum)