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)

Performers dressed as superhero characters pose with a child receiving the Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11 at a gym in San Juan City, suburban Manila on February 7, 2022. (Photo by Ted Aljibe/AFP Photo)

Miniscule larvae carve winding tunnels as they eat through small leaves in a small forest near the town of Velbert in western Germany in July 2022. The hungry green sawfly larvae measure just three millimetres in length and are difficult to spot on the leaves of the beech tree unless up close. (Photo by Christian Brockes/Solent News)

A worker, dressed in a protective suit, cleans Conchitas Beach contaminated by an oil spill, in Ancon, Peru, Thursday, January 20, 2022. The oil spill on the Peruvian coast was caused by the waves from an eruption of an undersea volcano in the South Pacific nation of Tonga. (Photo by Martin Mejia/AP Photo)

A school girl reacts as a health worker inoculates her with the dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the Covid-19 coronavirus for the 12-15 years age group at an educational institution in Colombo on January 7, 2022. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

Marani Devi Chaudhary (C), aged 40, performs a ritual in front of shaman Paltan Yadav (unseen) at her home in Rajaur village in Dhanusha district, Nepal, 02 November 2017. The shaman identified Marani Devi to be possessed by their lineage god who was dissatisfied by their worship is thought by the family to have caused them misfortune and is even feared lead to their death. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA/EFE)

Grade 5 student Lovely Joy De Castro, 11, takes notes while attending an online class using a smartphone, as schools remain closed during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at Manila South Cemetery where she lives with her family in Makati City, Philippines, November 6, 2020. (Photo by Eloisa Lopez/Reuters)

A model walks the runway at the Agatha Ruiz de la Prada fashion show during the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Madrid at Ifema on September 12, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images)