Some of the best entries so far in the 2016 Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. There are two weeks left to enter, and the winners will be announced in September. Here: Aurora over Laksvatn Fjord, Laksvatn, Norway. The aurora borealis dances in the skies over the town of Laksvatn, with the Milky Way to the left. The image is a single shot with no compositing, only post-processing to bring out the aurora, and some colour corrections. The photographer Matt Walford said: “I love the way the northern lights look like they are just wistfully dancing over the fjord, framed by the mountains on either side”. (Photo by Matt Walford/National Maritime Museum)

A shooting star (L, top) is seen on the night sky during the perseid meteor shower in Jankowo, near Poznan, 11 August 2016. The first half of August is traditionally the best time to look out for meteors called “shooting stars”, or perseids which are the leftover dust particles of a comet tail associated with comet Swift-Tuttle. (Photo by Lukasz Ogrodowczyk/EPA)

“The pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis) is a large mammal native to the forests and swamps of western Africa (the specific name liberiensis means “of Liberia”, as this is where the vast majority live). The pygmy hippo is reclusive and nocturnal. It is one of only two extant species in the Hippopotamidae family, the other being its much larger cousin the common hippopotamus”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Monifa, a one month old baby Pygmy Hippopotamus takes a morning bath at Taronga Zoo on November 7, 2008 in Sydney, Australia. Monifa is the first Pygmy Hippopotamus to be born at Taronga Zoo in the past twenty three years. (Photo by Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images)

“Alan Alexander “A. A.” Milne (18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English author. Milne is most famous for his two Pooh books about a boy named Christopher Robin after his son, and various characters inspired by his son's stuffed animals, most notably the bear named Winnie-the-Pooh”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A rare American first edition of a Winnie-the-Pooh book signed by the author A.A. Milne and illustrator E. H. Shephard is displayed with Pooh characters form a 1930's game at a press preview at Sotheby's Auctioneers on December 15, 2008 in London. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

“Hatem Moussa joined The Associated Press as a photojournalist in 1998. Since then, the Gaza City-based Moussa has covered repeated rounds of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in Gaza, including the wars of 2008-9, 2012 and 2014”. – Associated Press. Photo: A Palestinian youth jumps into the Mediterranean sea on the beach at the port of Gaza City, Gaza, Monday, August 27, 2012. (Photo by Hatem Moussa/AP Photo)

Emergency responders respond to the scene of a 565-foot-tall crane that toppled and flipped upside down, stretching along nearly two city blocks in downtown Manhattan in New York, February 5, 2016. The massive construction crane collapsed in lower Manhattan during a swirling snowstorm on Friday, killing one person and crushing a line of parked cars in the first accident of its kind in New York City since 2008. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

English swimwear designer, television personality, actress and socialite best known for her role in the reality television series “Made in Chelsea” Kimberley Garner attends the opening of a new exhibition at the Maddox Gallery in Notting Hill, London on May 9, 2019. (Photo by New Media Images – SB)

The Epson International Pano awards showcase the work of the best panoramic photographers from around the world. Here: “Paepalanthus at Moonlight” Veadeiros Tablelands, Brazil. (Photo by Marcio Cabral/Epson International Pano Awards 2017)