Astronomy runner-up: Taranaki Stars by James Orr ‘This is an image of the Milky Way and the two Magellanic clouds above Mount Taranki, a 2,500m active stratovolcano, on New Zealand’s North Island. The two Magellanic clouds are dwarf galaxies over 150,000 light years away that can only be seen in the southern hemisphere’s night sky. After a tough hike up to this viewpoint, we spent a good eight hours watching the clouds thin, the sun set and the Milky Way appear. By midnight, the sky was full of stars but a sliver of moon was just bright enough to light up the incredible landscape’

Photograph: James Orr/Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2019