Soap Bubble Structures by Kym Cox. Bubbles optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This phenomenon makes them a useful tool in many areas of research, in particular, materials science and “packing” – how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom, which interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst. (Photo by Kym Cox/2019 Science Photographer of the Year/RPS)

Brasil's Flavia Saraiva competes on the Balance Beam in the Women's Team Final during the 52nd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, in Antwerp, northern Belgium, on October 4, 2023. (Photo by Lionel Bonaventure/AFP Photo)

A shooting star (L, top) is seen on the night sky during the perseid meteor shower in Jankowo, near Poznan, 11 August 2016. The first half of August is traditionally the best time to look out for meteors called “shooting stars”, or perseids which are the leftover dust particles of a comet tail associated with comet Swift-Tuttle. (Photo by Lukasz Ogrodowczyk/EPA)

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.

ESA astronaut Tim Peake posted this stunning image on his social media channels, commenting: “Station passed through magnificent aurora Australis last night”. Tim is set to return to Earth on 18 June 2016, bringing his six-month Principia mission to the ISS to an end. During his stay he performed more than 30 scientific experiments for ESA and taking part in numerous others from ESA's international partners. ESA and the UK Space Agency have partnered to develop many exciting educational activities around the Principia mission, aimed at sparking the interest of young children in science and space. (Photo by Tim Peake/ESA/NASA)

An Army Sikorsky VH-34s Choctaw helicopter once used to transport President Dwight D. Eisenhower sits in a field at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group boneyard Thursday, May 14, 2015 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz. President Eisenhower became the first chief executive to be transported by helicopter. Presidents Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy were transported in VH-34 helicopters and VH-34's served as “Army One” from 1958 through 1963. (Photo by Matt York/AP Photo)

Six month- old baby elephant “Clear Sky” is kept afloat with the help of a harness during a hydrotherapy session at a local veterinary clinic in Chonburi Province on January 5, 2017. After losing part of her left foot in a snare in Thailand, baby elephant 'Clear Sky' is now learning to walk again – in water. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt/AFP Photo)

The antennas of the European Southern Observatory's Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, also known as ALMA, are set against the splendor of the Milky Way in this picture by Babak Tafreshi. Construction of the full ALMA array is due to be completed in Chile's Atacama Desert in 2013, but the facility is already making scientific observations with a partial array of antennas. (Photo by ESO/B. Tafreshi/TWAN)