The competition is run by Royal Observatory Greenwich sponsored by Insight Investment and in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine. This year astrophotographers from 91 countries sent in more than 4,200 spectacular entries. Here: The Milky Way rises above an isolated lighthouse in Tasmania. Shot by James Stone of Australia. (Photo by James Stone/Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2018)

The jewelled flower mantis, commonly found in Asia, is believed to be the inspiration for many martial artists is seen in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 2, 2016. (Photo by Prabu Dennaga/Barcroft Images)

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, appear in the sky over the Bamburgh lighthouse at Stag Rock in Northumberland, England on September 28, 2016. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Wire via ZUMA Press)

Bangladeshi day labourers carry baskets of coal from a cargo ship in Gabtoli, Dhaka on January 2, 2022. They are earning around $1 every 30 baskets of coal unloaded from the ship. (Photo by Piyas Biswas/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A woman walks depicting a scene from the Iranian national epic poem “Shahnameh” in Tehran on August 5, 2025. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)

Navy midshipmen celebrate a Navy touchdown during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, December 14, 2019, in Philadelphia. Navy won 31-7. (Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

A performer from the Imperatriz samba school takes part in the first night of Rio's Carnival at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro on March 4, 2019. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

The Thufa hill in Reykjavik, Friday, October 28, 2016. Parliamentary elections will be held in Iceland on October 29, 2016, more than 250,000 voters are called to elect the new parliament, 63 members of the Althing parliament. (Photo by Frank Augstein/AP Photo)