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)

A member of the Indian company Margi Kathakali theatre performs during “Kijote Kathakali”, a Kathakali recital based on the Spanish classic “Don Quixote”, at the Niemeyer Center in Aviles, northern Spain, July 29, 2016. The performance and text captured the essence of the novel while sticking to the format of Kathakali. Kathakali is one of the major forms of classical Indian dance. (Photo by Eloy Alonso/Reuters)

Professional adventurer Alison Teal has become the first woman to paddle out into lava during a volcanic eruption into the sea. Amazing shots of the extreme surf session shows the daredevil riding her pink surfboard up to the base of Kilauea Volcano. Photographer Perrin James snapped the brave explorer within feet of the lava as it flows into the ocean. Its the first the volcano in the Big Island of Hawaii has erupted since 2011. Here: Alison Teal paddles out to Kilauea volcano in Hawaii as it eruopts into the ocean. (Photo by Perrin James/Caters News)

A year after hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees snaked their way across southeastern Europe and onto television screens worldwide, the roads through the Balkans are now clear, depriving an arguably worsening tragedy of its poignant visibility. Reuters photographer, Antonio Bronic revisiting the people-packed locations where he and his colleagues captured last year's diaspora, found empty roads, unencumbered railway tracks and bucolic countryside. (Photo by Antonio Bronic/Reuters)

A Perseid meteor streaks across the sky above Inspiration Point early on August 12, 2016 in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. The annual display, known as the Perseid shower because the meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus in the northeastern sky, is a result of Earth's orbit passing through debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Comedians and cast members from the Pleasance's 2016 programme bounce on yellow spacehoppers in costume at Calton Hill on August 15, 2016 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Pleasance and Waverley Care are marking a twenty five years in partnership, it's a unique relationship that helps raise awareness and challenges the stigma that continues to be attached to HIV and Hepatitis C and has raised more than £375,000 so far. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

As part of FLAIR Melbourne – a Flinders Lane art festival – Melbourne’s Lisa Minogue presents stylised photographic portraits of Australian women of colour, their faces painted vibrantly to accentuate their individuality and encourage the viewer to study each face more closely. Minogue asked each woman the same question: “What do the words “coloured girl” mean to you?”. (Photo by Lisa Minogue/The Guardian)

Will Rosner and a playful humpback whale pose for a selfie. This man is certainly knows how to enjoy life travelling the South Pacific and posing for selfies with a whale. Australian carpenter Will Rosner, 24, from Sydney, Australia, has been travelling the world for the past 18 months but nothing could have prepared him for this incredible postcard moment. Swimming in the pristine waters of the Tonga in the Pacific Ocean Will was lucky enough to have the chance to swim with an entire pod of humpback whales. (Photo by WIll Rosner/Caters News)