Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers sit waiting to return their weapons after a day of traning at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) October 3, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. There are between 5,000 to 7,000 troops on the training facility in eight-week cycles trained by the coalition forces to ultimately take over the role of military operations in the country. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

An Indian villager tries to tame a bull during a traditional bull-taming festival called “Jallikattu”, in the village of Palamedu, near Madurai, Tamil Nadu state, India, Monday, January 15, 2018. Jallikattu involves releasing a bull into a crowd of people who attempt to grab it and ride it. (Photo by R. Parthibhan/AP Photo)

First place, The Beauty of Plants. “There are many stages of lotus growth on display at the Aquatic Gardens, but to come across twotwisted dancing stems of nelumbo nucifera was unexpected and quite magical”. (Photo by Kathleen Furey/The Guardian)

File photo dated 21/04/66 of Pattie Boyd in London's West End wearing a mini skirt, as the British designer Mary Quant, widely credited with popularising the mini skirt has recalled its “feeling of freedom and liberation” 50 years after she took the fashion world by storm. Quant, who named the skirt after her favourite make of car, said she “couldn't have imagined” in 1964 that it would become a staple of women's clothing, but added: “It seemed then to be obvious, and so right”. (Photo by PA Wire)

Sonny Colbrelli of Italy celebrates winning the men's Paris Roubaix, a 258 kilometer (160.3 miles) one-day-race cycling race, at the velodrome in Roubaix, northern France, Sunday, October 3, 2021. (Photo by Vincent Kalut/Pool Photo via AP Photo)

A woman walks in front of an art installation made of artificial fruits and vegetables during the “Moscow Autumn” festival in central Moscow, September 14, 2015. (Photo by Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)

Lew Hendrix collects palm branches blown down by the outer bands of Hurricane Ian in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, FL, early Wednesday morning, September 28, 2022. (Photo by Ted Richardson/The Washington Post)

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)