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)

A worker cleans the statue of Yuri Gagarin, the first person who flew to space, ahead of Cosmonautics Day celebrated on April 12, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday April 10, 2019. Cosmonautics Day marks when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, in 1961, orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing. (Photo by Maxim Marmur/AP Photo)

Camel racing made its debut in Paxford, Gloucestershire, England yesterday at a point-to-point event on April 22, 2019. Each of the four camels was sponsored by a local pub. (Photo by Paul Nicholls/The Times)

Aerial photo taken on April 20, 2018 shows the view of advection fog above Qingdao, a coastal city in east China' s Shandong Province. (Photo by Lu Hui/Xinhua News Agency/Eyevine)

In this photo taken on Saturday, January 26, 2019 photo, rescued flamingo chicks have access to water at a centre after being rescued from a dried out dam in Kimberley, South Africa. A special airlift for thousands of baby flamingos is under way in South Africa as drought has put their breeding ground in peril. A reservoir that hosts one of southern Africa's largest flamingo populations is drying up. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)

Milena Jami whips her llama to win the first place in the a race for children of ages seven and eight at the Llanganates National Park, Ecuador, Saturday, February 8, 2020. Wooly llamas, an animal emblematic of the Andean mountains in South America, become the star for a day each year when Ecuadoreans dress up their prized animals for children to ride them in 500-meter races. (Photo by Dolores Ochoa/AP Photo)

A general view of Copacabana beach during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 22, 2020. (Photo by Ricardo Moraes/Reuters)

A protester poses for photos next to a burning police vehicle in Los Angeles, Saturday, May 30, 2020, during a demonstration over the death of George Floyd. a black man who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. (Photo by Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP Photo)