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)

“The McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender is an air-to-air tanker aircraft in service with the United States Air Force derived from the civilian DC-10-30 airliner. The KC-10 was the second consecutive McDonnell Douglas transport aircraft to be selected by the US Air Force following the C-9 Nightingale. The similar KDC-10 is in service with the Royal Netherlands Air Force.”

Photo: A B-52G Stratofortress aircraft takes off with another B-52G close behind. Three cells of six B-52 and KC-10 Extender aircraft will takeoff seconds apart under combat conditions during the minimum interval takeoff exercise. The exercise is a part of an operational readiness inspection by the Strategic Air Command Inspector General Team. (Photo by USAF). 1998

A man looks at members of the flash mob group calling themselves the «Brides of March» (“Grab a wedding dress and join the brides as we parade through the heart of San Francisco, strolling through Union Square, shopping at fancy stores and drinking at local bars!”) as they stand outside a bar March 18, 2006 in San Francisco. The flash mob group made their way through the streets stopping at bars, cafes, and several stores. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

In this Wednesday, August 21, 1991 file photo, appreciative muscovites hand bread, sausages and flowers to a Soviet tank's driver who helped stop the failed hardline coup in Moscow, Russia. When a group of top Communist officials ousted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev 30 years ago and flooded Moscow with tanks, the world held its breath, fearing a rollback on liberal reforms and a return to the Cold War confrontation. But the August 1991 coup collapsed in just three days, precipitating the breakup of the Soviet Union that plotters said they were trying to prevent. (Photo by Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo/File)

The remarkable scene was captured by amateur wildlife photographer Ian Salisbury, 62, at the South Luangwa National park in Zambia. The crocodile grabs hold of the elephant's trunk, but it soon becomes clear that he has bitten off a lot more than he can chew by grabbing the huge beast. Mr Salisbury said the elephant “fled rapidly into the bush” after the attack. (Photo by Ian Salisbury/Caters News)

Nikolai Vasilyev, 62, dressed as Father Frost, Russian equivalent of Santa Claus, water-skis along the Yenisei River outside Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, December 10, 2015. Vasilyev, a teacher of the Krasnoyarsk Aerospace Academy, constructed the self-made water skis to travel on the water surface. The skis are made of plastic foam and the sticks are designed to propel him forward. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

The pelican, named “Ndagabar”, which means pelican in the local Wolof language, begins visiting the neighborhood in the early hours of the day in Saint-Louis, Senegal on November 02, 2024. The pelican, which 62-year-old retired fisherman Madiop Gueye, has been keeping in front of his house for five years, has become the center of both the neighborhood and the region, attracting the attention of both local and foreign tourists. (Photo by Cem Ozdel/Anadolu via Getty Images)