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)

An artist's impression of a growing supermassive black hole located in the early Universe is seen in this NASA handout illustration released on June 15, 2011. Using the deepest X-ray image ever taken, astronomers found the first direct evidence that massive black holes were common in the early universe. This discovery from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory shows that very young black holes grew more aggressively than previously thought, in tandem with the growth of their host galaxies. (Photo by Reuters/NASA/Chandra X-Ray Observatory/A.Hobart)

Naomi Campbell attends the Swarovski Fashionation at Palazzo Reale on June 7, 2011 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

A demonstrator confronts a police officer outside the 18th District Police station during a rally after the death of Walter Wallace Jr., a Black man who was shot by police in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 27, 2020. (Photo by Bastiaan Slabbers/Reuters)

Dogs and their owners wearing all types of colorful costumes participate in the Elizabeth Street Garden Halloween Pet Parade on November 4, 2023 in New York City. The parade was posponed from October dur to bad weather. (Photo by Andrew Schwartz/Splash News and Pictures)

Actresses Pamela Anderson (L) and Elizabeth Hurley pose together as they arrive at the Vanity Fair post-Academy Awards party at Mortons in Los Angeles, March 25, 2001. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/AFP Photo via Getty Images)

A Chicago Police Officer runs toward gunfire as looters break into downtown stores in the early hours of the morning on August 10, 2020. (Photo by RMV/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Police intervene as two women fight at a pro-law enforcement rally that clashed with counter protesters demonstrating against racial inequality, in Denver, Colorado, U.S. July 19, 2020. (Photo by Kevin Mohatt/Reuters)