The winner of the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year won't be announced until September 15th, so for now, feast your eyes upon 10 of the over 130 spectacular images deemed worthy enough to be placed on the competition's shortlist.

This is the eighth year the Royal Observatory Greenwich has hosted the photography competition, which has received over 4,500 entries this year from both amateur and professional astronomical photographers from around the world. The observatory itself is a historic site, the home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian, first opened in 1675.

While only one entrant will be crowned photographer of the year, there are many other categories to star in, from a special category for those under 16 to the "Sir Patrick Moore" prize for those who have only taken up the craft in the last year. There's also a category for robotic scope images, which are images that have been taken by computer controlled telescopes that can be accessed by the public through the internet.

After the winners are announced, an exhibition of the images will be on view from September 17th to August 7th at the Royal Observatory Greenwich museum.