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)

In this picture taken Thursday, August 4, 2016, seal Tristan looks out of a basket while being released into the North Sea together with others at the beach of the island Juist, Germany. He is part of the first group of released seals of the seal breeding station Norddeich this year. (Photo by Carmen Jaspersen/DPA via AP Photo)

A photograph made available on 30 September 2016 showing wind turbines at the site of the highest wind park in Europe at the Griessee, near the Nufenenpass in the Swiss south Alpes, Valais, Switzerland, on 23 September 2016. The four wind turbines of this wind park were developed by the company SwissWinds GmbH and are inaugurated on, 30 September 2016. (Photo by Olivier Maire/EPA)

Sugar gliders, Candy and Popcorn, enjoy their favourite food, Nectar, at Wild Life Sydney Zoo on February 14, 2017 in Sydney, Australia. The treat made up of honey, high protein baby cereal and egg yolks is the human equivalent to chocolate to the Sugar Gliders. St. Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine began as a celebration of the early Christian Saint Valentinus. From the 18th Century onwards it has steadily transformed into a celebration of romantic love and sentiment in many countries around the world. (Photo by James D. Morgan/Getty Images)

A US Army M1A2 SEP tank participates in the Strong Europe Tank Challenge 2017 at the military training area in Grafenwoehr, Germany, 12 May 2017. Six North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nations and partner nations, Austria, France, Germany, Poland, Ukraine and the USA are taking part in this competing exercise. (Photo by Christian Bruna/EPA)

A Somali police officer arrests a suspected rebel member of the al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab among beach goers in Mogadishu. Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for today's pre-dawn attack on a Kenyan university campus near the Somali border. The following gallery examines who is al Shabaab. Here: Somali police officer (R) arrests a suspected rebel member (L) of the Al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab among beach goers at the Lido beach north of Somalia's capital Mogadishu March 23, 2012. (Photo by Feisal Omar/Reuters)

A koala soaked by floodwaters sits atop a fence post to escape the deluge in the town of Stirling in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia in this picture taken September 14, 2016. (Photo by Russell Latter/Reuters)

Lee Kiefer of the USA (L) and Inna Deriglazova of Russia (R) in action during the women's Foil Individual Gold Medal Bout of the Fencing events of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Makuhari Messe convention centre in Chiba, Japan, 25 July 2021. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/EPA/EFE)