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)

Prime Minister Theresa May meets Russian President Vladimir Putin during the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan on June 28, 2019. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images)

Performers in costume kiss as they take part in the carnival on the main Parade day of the Notting Hill Carnival in west London on August 27, 2018. Nearly one million people are expected by the organizers Sunday and Monday in the streets of west London' s Notting Hill to celebrate Caribbean culture at a carnival considered the largest street demonstration in Europe. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP Photo)

Tommy Lindsey holds an enormous maple leaf that he found in Mount Vernon, Wash., October 28, 2013. Lindsey was walking with his family when he picked up the leaf that is more than two feet from stem to tip and more than 21 inches wide. (Photo by Frank Varga/The Skagit Valley Herald)

Mexican training ship “Cuauhtemoc” moves past the Galata Tower in Istanbul, Turkiye on July 18, 2023. “Cuauhtemoc”, which was sent by the Mexican government as a sign of friendship between the two countries on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkiye, arrived at Sarayburnu Port. (Photo by Omer Faruk Yildiz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A boy looks on as he swims in an area affected by floods due to the overflowing of the Batanghari River at Sungai Bungur village in Muaro Jambi, Jambi province, Indonesia, on February 20, 2024, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Photo by Wahdi Septiawan/Antara Foto via Reuters)

A blue-tailed bee-eater chases down its prey along the banks of the Kaveri River on the outskirts of the city of Mysore, India in the last decade of June 2025. (Photo by Nitin Jain/Solent News)

Tsar Alexander II (1818–1881) known as “The Liberator” lying in state. He was mortally wounded by an assassination attack in St Petersburg. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). March 1881