Sixteen new photographs on display in Greenwich, England are astronomical – quite literally. The images show us a late afternoon moon hanging low above the a snow-clad mountain ridge in Italy, a hypergiant star in the Carina Nebula that is more than 6,500 light years away from Earth and everything in between – northern lights, solar prominences, meteors and supernovae – all in incredible detail.

The photographs comprise the shortlist of the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2015 prize from the Royal Observatory Greenwich. The competition received 2,700 entries this year from 60 countries. Awards are given for the best photography of aurora, skyscapes, people and space, our sun, our moon, planets, stars and nebulae, and galaxies. An overall prize will be awarded to one among the winners from each of these categories.

Whether they are conceptual or piercingly scientific, the final sixteen images look like they might have been created by the visual effects team of a sci-fi film. As one of the judges Jon Culshaw says “this is the closest you can get to travelling around the universe without a Tardis”.