The competition, which is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine, is now in its sixth year and has received over 2,500 entries. Photo: Centre of the Heart Nebula by Ivan Eder (Hungary). Situated 7500 light years away in the “W”-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia, the Heart Nebula is a vast region of glowing gas, energized by a cluster of young stars at its centre. The image depicts the central region, where dust clouds are being eroded and moulded into rugged shapes by the searing cosmic radiation. (Photo by Ivan Eder)

South Korean rapper Jennie performs at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, U.S., April 13, 2025. (Photo by Daniel Cole/Reuters)

M42 Subtle V1 cropped. One of the most well-known astronomical objects in our universe is the Orion Nebula and this image depicts the wider region of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex that is its home. This complex also includes another popular target for astrophotographers, the Horsehead Nebula, as well as Barnard’s Loop and the Running Man Nebula, which can be seen to the left of this photograph. (Photo by Patrick Gilliland)

A child marches in the Lunar New Year Parade in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, DC, on January 22, 2023. 2023 is the year of the rabbit in the Chinese horoscope. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds/AFP Photo)

People pose for photos among a field of cosmos flowers in a car park before high-rise apartment buildings in Goyang, west of Seoul on September 22, 2020. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

Sailors pause to take a photo with characters in Times Square during “Fleet Week 2024” in New York City on May 22, 2024. (Photo by Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

The Nebraska Cornhuskers huddle before Wednesday’s match against the Omaha Mavericks at Memorial Stadium on August 30, 2023 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Dylan Widger/USA Today Sports)

Photographer John Maher, once the drummer with punk bank Buzzcocks, travelled to the Outer Hebrides to photograph abandoned crofters’ cottages – many of which, like this one, have seemingly been untouched since. Here: “Peat Fire”. Taken in March 2013 on the east coast of Harris. The fire is from muir-burning, when farmers burn off grasses and heather to improve grazing for their sheep. (Photo by John Maher/The Guardian)