People walk throw the Damascus gate during the Jerusalem Festival of Lights on June 15, 2011 at Jerusalem's Old City, Israel. The festival opened on Wednesday night and will run for a week in the Old City of Jerusalem, hosting Israeli and international artists and creators who will display their installations throughout the week. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Ten day old male Gorilla “Fataki” clings to his mother “Frala” during his media debut at Taronga Zoo June 4, 2003 in Sydney, Australia. Fataki was born on May 24, 2003 and was the fourth Gorilla to be born at Taronga Zoo since the opening of the Gorilla Forest in 1997. (Photo by Chris McGrath/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.

Photographer Mark Tipple captured the underwater pictures with his friend Mike as the surfer. But the rough waves of the coast of the Cook Islands slammed Mike into the sea bed during the shoot, causing him to slice his skin open and badly bruise his body. Photo: Mike diving beneath a shallow wave. (Photo by Mark Tipple/Caters News Agency)

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark serves to Alisa Kleybanova of Russia during the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 15, 2011 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

From Britain to China to Mali, new maps showing travel times to the nearest urban centre reveal huge differences between countries. Using Open Street Map and Google, a University of Oxford team have created a visual breakdown that suggests major inequalities when it comes to commuting. Here: China. The dataset used for China was unique as it relied solely on Open Street Map, due to restrictions on accessing Google data. The population is densely concentrated in the east and accessibility is increased, whereas rural provinces in the west remain remote. (Photo by Daniel Weiss/Jennifer Rozier/Malaria Atlas Project/University of Oxford)