These spectacular images of the universe are the finalists in the 2016 CWAS “David Malin” awards. The annual competition, which celebrates the best astronomy images taken by Australian photographers, is part of AstroFest 2016. The winners will be announced on 16 July. An associated exhibition opens the following day at the CSIRO Parkes Observatory visitors centre, and a second exhibition will also travel to selected venues around Australia. Here: Mars and its Rival Antares and the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. (Photo by Phil Hart/CWAS/The Guardian)

Amateur honorable mention | Common raven at Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Colleen Gara/Audubon Photography Awards)

In this February 19, 2017 photo, a couple dances during the “If you don't give me....then you lend me” Carnival street party on Ipanema beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The typical view of Carnival in Brazil is anything goes, with no headdress too big, no outfit too small, no song too ribald, but this year some organizers of the world's best known party are drawing the line at lyrics that are sexist, homophobic or racist. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

Bud Light Hotel Correspondent Leila Mahadin (R) interviews a Playboy Bunny at the 2012 Playboy Party hosted by Bud Light Hotel at Bud Light Hotel on February 3, 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for Bud Light Hotel)

Karis, an eleven week old lion cub, plays in fallen leaves brushed up by keepers in her enclosure at Blair Drummond Safari Park, near Stirling, Scotland, on November 20, 2013. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

People ride on a motorcycle in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

A model poses for a photograph backstage during Moscow Fashion Week in Moscow, Russia, Monday, October 7, 2024. (Photo by Pavel Bednyakov/AP Photo)

Female seal “Lotte” swims in a pool of her enclosure at the zoo in Rostock, northeastern Germany, on September 27, 2019. (Photo by Bernd Wuestneck/dpa/AFP Photo)