William Gibson is not one of the authors that spits out novels like a machine – in his long and fruitful career he has only published 11 novels andof short stories and articles in the tens each. Still his impact on modern literature was huge – the “noir prophet” of the cyberpunk subgenre (that he was one of the pioneers of) has predicted the rise of reality television, virtual reality, video games and the internet. He is a Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction writer, with a special eye for what the future might bring.

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)

This 1931 Stutz DV-32 convertible sedan has 66,000 miles on its odometer and its original leather luggage awaits its first complete restoration Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at L'Cars Automotive Specialties in Cameron, Wis. The company which does high-end restoration and customization work classic cars that have won awards at the world-renowned Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Winning cars include a 57c Bugatti, Rolls Royce PIII V12, V12 Aero coupe, T44 Bugatti, T55 Bugatti, T38A Bugatti, Mercedes Benz 290 Roadster, Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, T57 Bugatti, 1929 Duesenberg J, Mercedes Benz 540K cabriolet, Talbot Teardrop and a 1931 V16 Cadillac convertible. (Photo by Mark Hoffman)

People search for shells on a beach in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar, 17 September 2020. International Coastal Cleanup Day is observed annually on the third Saturday of September and will occur on 19 September this year. (Photo by Nyunt Win/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Russia's Darya Klishina prepares for the women's long jump qualification during the athletics competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, August 16, 2016. She might be feeling the pressure of being all alone, but Darya Klishina could yet still win Russia's only athletics medal at the Rio 2016 Games. (Photo by Matt Dunham/AP Photo)

A young fan cheers while waiting for the ticker tape parade to celebrate the U.S. women's soccer team World Cup victory, Friday, July 10, 2015, in New York. The World Cup winning U.S. women's football team rolled up New York City's “Canyon of Heroes” on Friday, with a blizzard of confetti swirling overhead in the first ticker-tape parade honouring a women's sports team. (Photo by Adam Hunger/AP Photo)

People sit on a cart with a camel tied to it during “Temeenii bayar”, the Camel Festival, in Dalanzadgad, Umnugobi aimag, Mongolia, March 6, 2016. On the steppes of the Gobi Desert, the crowd urges on Bactrian camels laden down with all that's needed to build and live in a traditional Mongolian tent. Guinness World Records classes the 15 km race thatÕs part of the two-day festival as the largest camel race in the world, drawing 1,108 participants. The winning camel romped home in 35 minutes and 12 seconds, according to the records website. (Photo by B. Rentsendorj/Reuters)

These images have been created using a colour scanning electron microscope (SEM) by the award-winning Eye of Science, comprised of snapper Oliver Meckes and biologist Nicole Ottawa. For a decade the pair, based in Reutlingen in the south of Germany, worked with an old SEM they saved from the scrapheap, but for the last five years they have used a £250,000 FEI Quanta Series Field Emission SEM. Oliver said: “Flowers are beautiful in 'normal' view, but when you look closer, some parts get very bizarre and unexpected structures appear – flowers within flowers, worlds within worlds”. Photo: The floret of a Chamomile flower up close and personal. (Photo by Oliver Meckes/Barcroft Media)