Giant panda Xiao Qi Ji plays at his enclosure at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, Thursday, September 28, 2023. (Photo by Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)

The Guinness World Record for the fastest tortoise in the world is held by Bertie, a South African leopard tortoise, who covered 5.49 metres in 19.59 seconds. (Photo by Paul Michael Hughes/Guinness World Records/PA Wire Press Association)

A fox runs out onto the pitch before the start of the second half. Celtic League 2012/13, Round 19, Leinster v Ulster, RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin, March 30, 2013. (Photo by Paul Mohan)

Cemetery overcrowding is an issue that resonates around the world, particularly in its most cramped cities and among religions that forbid or discourage cremation. The reality of relying on finite land resources to cope with the endless stream of the dying has brought about creative solutions... (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

A female bodybuilder apples oil to another performer backstage before an amateur competition in the Israeli city of Dimona, in this April 3, 2014 file photo. (Photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters)

Astronomer, space scientist and meteorologist Andrea Opitz, senior research associate of the Space Physics and Space Technology Department of Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) Wigner Research Centre for Physics (2R) wears a space suit during a cosmology exhibition in Budapest, Hungary, 03 March 2016. The photo series was created to mark the International Women's Day (IWD), which was marked for the first time in 1911 and is celebrated on 08 March since 1913. (Photo by Bea Kallos/EPA)

In this March 29, 2016 photo, a man shoulders a coffin with the remains of a loved one who was slain more than two decades ago by Shining Path rebels, as he walks to the cemetery for a group burial service, in Ccano, a village in the Huanta area of Ayachcuo department, Peru. Presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori's base of support is in places like Ccano, where promises to build roads, clinics and schools recall her agronomist father’s own legacy of delivering aid to the long-overlooked countryside. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

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)