Awe-inspiring scenes of the Milky Way rising, galaxies colliding, stellar nurseries, the luminous aurora borealis dancing across the night's sky and Saturn balanced by its moons all feature in the short list for this year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year.
Every year, the Royal Observatory Greenwich runs the competition in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine and supported by Liberty Specialty Markets.
In 2022, the competition received more than 3,000 entries from amateur and dedicated professional photographers from 67 countries.
Short-listed images from this year's competition include the harvest moon rising behind Glastonbury Tor in the United Kingdom, the lights of the Milky Way mirrored by the highest national highway in the world in Tibet, one of the most detailed amateur-produced maps of the lunar south pole, created in the United States, a partial solar eclipse over Italy and the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy captured in Australia exactly 270 years after its discovery.
One of the astronomical highlights of 2021 was the discovery of Comet Leonard, a long-period comet identified by GJ Leonard on January 3, 2021.
It made its closest pass by Earth on December 12, 2021, and was the brightest comet of the year.
Almost a quarter of submissions to the Planets, Comets and Asteroids category focused on this single comet, including a spectacular image captured in Namibia by Lionel Majzik.
Mr Majzik said the photography was hampered by overcast weather conditions.
Now in its 14th year, Astronomy Photographer of the Year has an expert panel of judges from the worlds of art and astronomy.
The winners of the competition's nine categories, two special prizes and the overall winner will be announced at a special online award ceremony on September 15.
The winning images will be displayed in an exhibition at Britain's National Maritime Museum until August 7, alongside a selection of exceptional short-listed images.
The competition's official book, to be published on September 29, will also showcase the winning and short-listed entries.