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)

“Catch of the Decade”. Can you guess what happened next? Photo location: Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA. (Photo and caption by Aaron Baggenstos/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A young child reaches out to a Gentoo penguin as it swims in its enclosure at Pairi Daiza Park in Cambron-Casteau, Belgium, Monday, July 5, 2021. Pairi Daiza, one of the biggest zoos in Europe, has recently added ten Gentoo penguins to their animal population. (Photo by Virginia Mayo/AP Photo)

Pictured is the sunset at Stonehenge in Wiltshire on Saturday night, September 24, 2022. (Photo by Nick Bull/pictureexclusive.com)

A highland cow in Purbeck, Dorset shows off for the camera in the second decade of February 2023. (Photo by Kate Fry/Bournemouth News)

Carnival revellers take the metro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on February 19, 2023. Shaking the ground to the beat of their drums, Rio de Janeiro's famed carnival parades returned Sunday in a swirl of glitter, sequins and samba, the festival's first full-on edition since Covid-19 and Brazil's bitterly divisive elections. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

A reef shell lies on a beach as the sun sets on Lady Elliot Island located north-east of the town of Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia, June 10, 2015. UNESCO World Heritage delegates recently snorkelled on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, thousands of coral reefs, which stretch over 2,000 km off the northeast coast. Surrounded by manta rays, dolphins and reef sharks, their mission was to check the health of the world's largest living ecosystem, which brings in billions of dollars a year in tourism. Some coral has been badly damaged and animal species, including dugong and large green turtles, are threatened. UNESCO will say on Wednesday whether it will place the reef on a list of endangered World Heritage sites, a move the Australian government wants to avoid at all costs, having lobbied hard overseas. Earlier this year, UNESCO said the reef's outlook was “poor”. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters)

A flock of sheep huddles together while snow spindrift is whipped up by strong winds in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, UK on March 17, 2017. (Photo by Paul Kingston/NNP North News & Pictures Ltd)