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)

In this Friday, February 5, 2016 picture, Egyptian farmer Ahmed Ayman, 14, rides his trained donkey as he jumps over a barrier in the Nile Delta village of Al-Arid about 150 kilometers north of Cairo, Egypt. He discovered the donkey's talent after she jumped over a small irrigation canal. (Photo by Amr Nabil/AP Photo)

(L-R) Edmea Pereira, 69, Elsa Rodrigues, 61, and Osmidio Conde, 71, take part in their surf class in Santos, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, March 16, 2016. When work is up, surf is up in Brazil, as a group of retired citizens take to the waves in keep-fit, keep-young sessions at a surf school in the city of Santos. The classes are run for free, three times a week at the Cisco Arana school, which aims to prove that age is just a number. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

We're getting some feedback: “Hi, I have a question. Why is it that 90% of your posts are about women? You don't seem to acknowledge the existence of men unless they were migrants. You're seriously telling me that you can't find a few great accomplishments that MEN are making?? If this is a feminist website I think you should make that public. I've been viewing your posts since 2010 I think, since you first created avaxnews. Now I'm seriously considering blocking you guys”.



And we can reply: We like women more and for that humbly beg for your forgiveness. In general you are right. We promise to rectify the situation somehow.

A young chimpanzee reacts on a pirogue with Rohmay Ndoulek, from the Papaye International association, during an outing in the Douala-Edea Natural Park in Marienberg on December 15, 2024. In the heart of Douala-Edea Natural Park, dedicated Cameroonian caretakers tend to and rehabilitate chimpanzees, victims of poaching and deforestation, at Papaye International, a sanctuary dubbed a “monkey paradise”. Founded in 2001, the association funded by 30 million friends and the Brigitte Bardot Foundation regularly receives eco-volunteers from all over the world. (Photo by Daniel Beloumou Olomo/AFP Photo)

A motorcycle modified to run on rails is seen inside a tunnel connected to the Altiplano Federal Penitentiary and used by drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to escape, in Almoloya de Juarez, on the outskirts of Mexico City, July 15, 2015. U.S. law enforcement officials met with agents of the Mexican attorney general's office this week to share information related to the escape from prison of Guzman and coordinate efforts to apprehend him, a Mexican government official said on Wednesday. (Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters)

Mrs. Marie Graskamp of Milwaukee shows the different positions one might assume when entering the bomb shelter in Milwaukee September 3, 1958. This circular entrance is about three feet in diameter. This is the entrance (according to the builders) that would connect to the cellar of a home assuming the shelter was in the ground for added protection. If a bombing should occur, all members of family would proceed to the cellar and then through the circular port into the shelter. (Photo by AP Photo)

Olivia Love-Hatlestad of Grayslake, IL., stands during the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 26, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Philadelphia, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Democratic National Convention kicked off July 25. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)