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 Afghan woman fills containers with water near her temporary shelter at an internally displaced person's (IDP) camp on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan, January 21, 2015. Dozens of families are living in temporary shelters even in harsh winters and most depend on aid distributions by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (Photo by Jalil Rezayee/EPA)

Behaviour: Mammals category. Giant Gathering by Tony Wu, USA. Dozens of sperm whales mingled noisily off Sri Lanka’s northeast coast, stacked as far down as Tony could see. This was a congregation of dozens of social units, like a gathering of the clans. Aggregations like this could be a critical part of the whales’ rich social lives but are rarely reported. Some two thirds of the population was wiped out before commercial whaling was banned in 1986. This kind of major gathering could be “a sign that populations are recovering”, says Tony. (Photo by Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017)

Iraqi teenagers swim in waste water from the nearby Tuweitha nuclear facility near Baghdad, Iraq on May 28, 2003. Iraqis are consuming contaminated water unaware of the dangerous pollutants that can cause severe ill health. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A passenger aircraft passes over a residential house as it prepares to land at London Heathrow Airport in west London on October 17, 2016. Britain's government is considering whether to approve a third runway at Heathrow or expand air capacity in southeast England at another airport such as London Gatwick. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP Photo)

Fans are seen at the 143rd Kentucky Derby on May 6, 2017 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

Sukhoi Su-30SM jet fighters of the Sokoly Rossii (Falcons of Russia) aerobatic team fly in formation during the International Army Games 2016, in Dubrovichi outside Ryazan, Russia, August 5, 2016. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Vendors warm themselves as they light a bonfire at a market during a nationwide power outage, in Muzaffarabad on January 23, 2023. A massive power breakdown in Pakistan on January 23 affected most of the country's more than 220 million people, including in the mega cities of Karachi and Lahore. (Photo by Sajjad Qayyum/AFP Photo)