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)

These are the stunning pictures of the night sky brilliantly capturing the lights and colors of the Milky Way glistening over desert landscapes. Taken in various locations across Australia and the United States from the Grand Canyon to the Coral Sea, the pictures perfectly show the bright lights of the starry skies. Here: Bisit Badlands, New Mexico. (Photo by Wayne Pinkston/Caters News)

Customers play with cats to find comfort at the Caturday Cat cafe after the government started opening some restaurants outside shopping malls, parks and barbershops, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Bangkok, Thailand on May 7, 2020. (Photo by Juarawee Kittisilpa/Reuters)

A man takes care of the cats at the Arnamir cat hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 14, 2023. Animal care services can be an option during the holidays when pets are left behind, so that pets are not neglected while their owners are away. The hotel implements free-to-play concept, so that the cats are entrusted and has a comfortable room to stay. The rooms are monitored by a 24-hour surveillance camera. (Photo by Dasril Roszandi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A cat sleeps between customers inside “Meow” cafe, where diners can play, interact or adopt cats given away by their former owners or rescued from the streets, in Monterrey, Mexico, May 14, 2016. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

These picture look like an artist has painted abstract patterns on canvas – but in fact they are natural rivers captured on camera. The spectacular rivers in Iceland's central highlands and southern parts originate from glaciers, which is why the water is a milky colour. They are shallow rivers and the water spreads quickly over a flat and sandy surface, creating random and beautiful patterns. Photographer Andrey Ermolaev from Moscow, Russia, flew 500ft above the unique sight in a small plane. (Photo by Andrey Ermolaev/Solent News)

“People and Space”. Winner: Wanderer in Patagonia by Yuri Zvezdny (Russia) A lone stargazer stares up at the stars of our galaxy, the Milky Way, as they stretch across the night sky over the glacier “White Stones” (Piedras Blancas) in the Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina. El Chaltén, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, 27 September 2016 iOptron Sky-Tracker mount, Sony A7S camera, 18 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 5000, 30-second exposure Wanderer in Patagonia. (Photo by Yuri Zvezdny/Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2017)

A cat sits in the flooding waters from Hurricane Matthew in downtown Nichols, South Carolina, October 10, 2016. (Photo by Randall Hill/Reuters)