A woman walks past as South Korean soldiers participate in an anti-chemical and anti-terror exercise as part of the 2023 Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) at subway station on August 22, 2023 in Seoul, South Korea. The 11-day exercise, which features drills including the handling of chemical and biological attacks, is a regular joint exercise between U.S. and South Korean troops. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

This photo taken on July 13, 2023 shows a woman wearing traditional Uyghur attire posing for photos in the Old Kashgar tourist area in China's northwestern Xinjiang region. Chinese travellers throng the bazaars of old Kashgar, munching mutton kebabs and soaking up heavily commodified Uyghur culture – part of a government push to remould troubled Xinjiang into a tourism paradise. (Photo by Pedro Pardo/AFP Photo)

“Sociomobile” by Jasleen Kaur goes on view as part of the 2024 Turner Prize exhibition at TATE Britain on September 24, 2024 in London, England. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Turner Prize, and it returns to Tate Britain for the first time since 2018. The prestigious award is presented annually to a British artist who has delivered an exceptional exhibition or presentation of their work. The four artists shortlisted for the 2024 Turner Prize are Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson, Jasleen Kaur, and Delaine Le Bas. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)

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.

Mitchell Falls are a chain of four waterfalls located in the remote north of the Kimberley Region (Western Australia, a little more than 2,000 kilometers northeast of Perth.). It is a part of Mitchell River National Park (one of the protected areas of Western Australia), Mitchell Falls are probably one of the park’s main attractions.

The Skeleton Coast is the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean coast of Namibia and south of Angola from the Kunene River south to the Swakop River, although the name is sometimes used to describe the entire Namib Desert coast. The Bushmen of the Namibian interior called the region "The Land God Made in Anger", while Portuguese sailors once referred to it as "The Gates of Hell".

During a jungle survival program February 20, 2013 taught by Royal Thai Special Forces in Sannapit, Thailand, U.S. Marines learned to catch cobras and drink their fresh blood, not to mention eat forest insects and pull the heads off of chicken. The training was part of Operation Cobra Gold 13, the 32nd edition of international military exercises hosted by the Thai. According to a U.S. Marines press release, Cobra Gold is the largest exercise of its kind in Asia and incorporates troops from five other nations in addition to the U.S. and Thailand. The Daily Mail reports that the Marines were invited to experience the local custom of drinking cobra blood after being taught to catch and kill cobras in the wild. As CNN notes, Cobra blood is believed to be a panacea and aphrodiasic in parts of Southeast Asia. In Jakarta, vendors can earn over $100 a night selling shots of cobra blood mixed with liquor. (Photo by Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP Photo)