“Elat’ma, the Ryazan Oblast region of Russia. This small town is only 300 kilometers (186 miles) from modern Moscow but remains 60 years in the past, dominated by the spirit of socialism. The air of the communist ‘50s can be seen in the town’s architecture, celebrations and other occurrences. But neither its beauty nor its ties to a socialist past brought photographer Anastasia Rudenko to this village. Elat’ma is unique in that it functions as a town for mentally disabled people”. – Michelle Cohan via CNN. (Photo by Anastasia Rudenko)

The Royal Observatory just announced its Astronomy Photographer Of The Year 2013 winners. Australian photographer Mark Gee was chosen among a thousand amateur and professional photographers around the globe to win the top title. His work is part of an exhibition of the winning photographers, which opened on Sept. 19 at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. The Royal Observatory shared with us the winners and notable mentions of the competition. Their descriptions of the prizewinners can be found below the images.

A chimpanzee relaxes in the shade at the Safari Park as the popular attraction prepares for the upcoming Jewish festival of Pesach (Passover) on April 14, 2008 in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, Israel. (Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)

In this photo taken Friday, December 9, 2016, young ballerinas practice under the instruction of Kenyan ballet dancer Joel Kioko, 16, in a room at a school in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo by Ben Curtis/AP Photo)

General view of a herbal store in Cairo, Egypt January 10, 2017. In an economic crisis that has led to a shortage of medicines, Egyptians are skipping trips to drug stores and instead turning to herbal remedies to treat every-day illnesses. (Photo by Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)

Passengers ride an overcrowded bus as they head towards their village to celebrate "Dashain", the biggest religious festival for Hindus in Nepal, as fuel crisis continues in Kathmandu, October 20, 2015. Many people who live in Nepal's capital hail from districts outside the Kathmandu Valley and return home for the festival. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

British sailors taking shore leave on the British dependency of Gibraltar visit the Suiza Bar to watch a Spanish dancer perform on August 05, 1954. These Spanish entertainers are under contract and must return over the border by 11 o'clock. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Getty Images)

In this aerial view the officers' building and an auditorium stand at the former Soviet military base on January 26, 2017 in Wuensdorf, Germany. Wuensdorf, once called “The Forbidden City”, was the biggest base for the Soviet armed forces in communist East Germany from 1945 until the last Soviet troops left in the early 1990s following the end of the Cold War and the reunification of Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)