Lightning strikes near Jacobsdorf at the Oder-Spree district in eastern Germany, September 1, 2015. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/AFP Photo)

A Palestinian boy holds an umbrella as he runs near houses that witnesses said were destroyed or damaged by Israeli shelling during the most recent conflict between Israel and Hamas, on a rainy day in the east of Gaza City November 16, 2014. (Photo by Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

Maj. Matt O'Donnell of Glenelg, MD shields himself from rotor wash as Ospreys carrying the delegation of U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta leaves on March 14, 2012 at Forward Operating Base Shukvani, Afghanistan. Panetta is also scheduled to meet with President Karzai during his two-day visit to Afghanistan. The trip comes as the Taliban has vowed revenge following this past weekend's killing spree by a U.S. soldier who is accused of killing 16 civilians in Afghanistan. Most of those killed were children and women. (Photo by Scott Olson/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.

A woman looks out of a dusty window after boarding a bus to be transported to see the casket of Nelson Mandela at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday December 11, 2013. On Thursday, December 5, 2013, Mandela died at the age of 95. (Photo by Markus Schreiber/AP Photo)

LOCOG Chair and former Olympian Lord Sebastian Coe holds a prototype design of the new golden Olympic Torch during its unveiling at St Pancras Station on June 8, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Sunrise over the fields of stemmy grassland in Burscough, Lancashire, UK on September 14, 2020 with wrapped bales of hay prepared for silage, haylage for animal winter feed. (Photo by MediaWorldImages/Alamy Live News)

A man drinks a Frucola as a policeman chases demonstrators during a protest against Chile's government in Santiago, Chile on December 4, 2019. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)