Auroral Crown © Yulia Zhulikova
Now in its ninth year, the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition continues to grow, this year receiving over 3,800 entries from photographers from 91 countries across the world.
The judges for the 2017 competition include, for the first time, Rebecca Roth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, along with photographer Ed Robinson, ESO’s Oana Sandu, The Sky at Night’s Pete Lawrence and Chris Lintott, Royal Observatory Greenwich Public Astronomer Marek Kukula, comedian Jon Culshaw and BBC Sky at Night Magazine editor Chris Bramley.
The winning images will be announced on 14 September 2017, followed by a free exhibition of the top entries held at the Royal Observatory Greenwich on 16 September.
Below is a small sample of the amazing astrophotos that made judging this year's competition harder than ever before.
