Space and photography fans are in for a treat. The Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition has returned, with its sixteenth edition shortlist featuring a stunning array of photographs.
London's Royal Museums Greenwich received a whopping 3,500 entries from both amateur and professional photographers globally, each of whom captured a breathtaking glimpse of space. The 30 shortlisted entries range from visuals from the Geminid meteor shower to an aurora in the shape of a dragon to ancient supernova remnants. Categories cover everything from stars and nebulae to asteroids to lunar and solar images.
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The official winners of the competition will be revealed in September, but for now the shortlist is an incredible first look at the intersection between art and astronomy. Take a look:
![This image shows an abandoned house in the middle of the Namib Desert with the Milky Way rising above it.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-3.fill.size_698x750.v1719917235.jpg)
![This image shows the details of the Sun’s surface.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-2.fill.size_2000x2000.v1719917235.jpg)
![The Isaac Newton Telescope at the edge of the telescope facility on La Palma.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-4.fill.size_2000x1887.v1719917235.jpg)
![Mount Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-5.fill.size_2000x1334.v1719917235.jpg)
![SNR G156.2+5.7 is a beautiful and faint supernova remnant (SNR) in the constellation Auriga.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-6.fill.size_2000x1600.v1719917235.jpg)
![A view of the Eystrahorn Mountain on the night of a KP7 storm.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-1.fill.size_2000x1598.v1719917235.jpg)
![An aurora panorama resembling a dragon, pictured in Raufarhöfn, Iceland.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-7.fill.size_2000x1613.v1719917235.jpg)
![CG4 (Cometary Globule 4) is a complex of nebulosity and dust with a very peculiar shape, located in the southern constellation of Puppis.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-8.fill.size_2000x1928.v1719917235.jpg)
![A picture of Snettisham Beach.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-9.fill.size_2000x1334.v1719917235.jpg)
![The Pleiades photographed in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-10.fill.size_2000x1326.v1719917235.jpg)
![This image shows a close look at IC 5070, the Pelican Nebula.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-11.fill.size_2000x1251.v1719917235.jpg)
![The Carina arm of the Milky Way with a statue in the front, photographed in Kunene Region, Namibia.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-13.fill.size_2000x1333.v1719917236.jpg)
![The planet Ceres and the Blowdryer galaxy photographed in Chile.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-12.fill.size_2000x1313.v1719917235.jpg)
![This image shows the International Space Station (ISS) transiting the 51 per cent-illuminated Moon.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-14.fill.size_2000x1182.v1719917236.jpg)
![A picture of the solar eclipse from Australia, composed of superimposed images.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-15.fill.size_2000x1302.v1719917236.jpg)
![M81, also known as Bode’s Galaxy, photographed in Michigan.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-16.fill.size_2000x1032.v1719917236.jpg)
![This is a still image from a time-lapse sequence of a solar prominence in Portugal.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-17.fill.size_2000x1320.v1719917236.jpg)
![An image taken from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) missions.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-18.fill.size_2000x1124.v1719917236.jpg)
![Saturn’s decreasing ring tilt is helping the big orange moon Titan get closer to Saturn from our viewpoint than it has in over a decade.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-19.fill.size_2000x1436.v1719917236.jpg)
![The aurora in motion when it turned into something resembling a dragon’s head on a clear night.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/02AQ5eotqFht9doESVxicwJ/images-20.fill.size_2000x1334.v1719917236.jpg)
Want more Astronomy Photographer of the Year wonders? Check out 2023's list.