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)

In this picture taken Thursday, August 4, 2016, seal Tristan looks out of a basket while being released into the North Sea together with others at the beach of the island Juist, Germany. He is part of the first group of released seals of the seal breeding station Norddeich this year. (Photo by Carmen Jaspersen/DPA via AP Photo)

Pierre Thivillon (R), director of the zoological park of Saint-Martin-La-Plaine and his wife Eliane look at Digit, an 18-year-old female gorilla, on August 19, 2016, in Saint-Martin-La-Plaine between Lyon and Saint-Etienne, southeastern France. The zoological park of Saint-Martin-La-Plaine is a shelter for beasts seized by the justice. (Photo by Philippe Desmazes/AFP Photo)

A man tries to extinguish an advertisement board set on fire during a demonstration of French labour union members and workers, as France faces its 38th consecutive day of strike against French government's pensions reform plans, in Paris, France on January 11, 2020. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

A journalist (R) is attacked by residents who are trying to prevent migrants from disembarking on the Greek island of Lesbos, on March 1, 2020. The United Nation called on March 1 for calm and urged states to refrain from “excessive” force, as thousands of migrants have flooded to Turkey's border with Greece in a bid to enter the EU. A massive influx of migrants swelled along the border over the weekend after Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to open its frontier to Europe as tensions mount over its deepening conflict in Syria. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)

Copperhead ridden by Harry Cobden falls during the RSA Insurance Novices' Chase (Grade 1) at Cheltenham Racecourse on March 11, 2020 in Cheltenham, England. (Photo by Tom Jenkins/The Guardian)

Residents wearing facemasks as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus sit in a passenger pick-up on a street in Rawalpindi on March 13, 2020. (Photo by Aamir Qureshi/AFP Photo)

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)