Floating on clear deep water and reflections near the cave entrance. Visitors can either bring their own kayaks or rent boats from the local community to paddle deep inside the cave and marvel at its wonders on March 2015 at Tham Khoun Ex, Laos. Tham Khoun Xe, commonly known as the Xe Bang Fai River Cave, in Laos, has over 15km of passages filled with awe-inspiring views and wide expanses of water. Photographer, John Spies, 59, captured scenes from the entrances of the huge underground river passages, intricate cave formations and views from a passage high above the water. The cave is formed by the Xe Bang Fai river, a major tributary of the Mekong and in the dry season can be traversed using inflatable kayaks. (Photo by John Spies/Barcroft Media/ABACAPress)

Participants pass an egg using their mouths during a religious ritual as they play the role of traditional fighters in a parade during the Popo (Mask) Carnival of Bonoua, in the east of Abidjan, April 18, 2015. The carnival has its origins in the changes that Aboure youths in Bonoua introduced to the annual festival of yams. (Photo by Luc Gnago/Reuters)

People take turns stomping the Christopher Columbus statue after it was toppled in front of the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. (Photo by Leila Navidi/Star Tribune via AP Photo)

Free for Editorial Use Ballerinas from The Royal Ballet School perform on December 2, 2025 under Covent Garden's first festive snowfall to launch the destination's daily December snow flurries. (Photo by Paul Grover/Covent Garden)

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 holds a champagne bottle during New Year's celebrations in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, January 1, 2014. Tens of thousands of Romanians took to the streets of the Romanian capital to join parties and watch fireworks. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

Giant panda Mei Xiang discovers a birthday cake meant for her cub Bei Bei (NP) who turns one at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC on August 20, 2016. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

Employees prepare spacesuits at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on August 19, 2015. Members of the main crew of the 45/46 expedition to the International Space Station ISS, Kazakhstan's cosmonaut Aydyn Aimbetov, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Denmark's astronaut Andreas Mogensen from the European Space Agency, are scheduled to blast off to the International Space Station (ISS) on September 2, 2015. (Photo by AFP Photo)