A Cucumber and a Chuta Cholero hug during the traditional festival “Desentierro del Pepino” (unearthing the Cucumber) to mark the beginning of carnival on January 21, 2024 in La Paz, Bolivia. People dug up the cucumber from the cemetery and walk through the streets with two characters, the Ch'uta and the Chola. (Photo by Gaston Brito/Getty Images)

A girl rests while ferrying water as Palestinians leave Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip with their belongings, heading towards Gaza City following Israeli evacuation orders on March 19, 2025. The Israeli military dropped leaflets warning residents of what it called “combat areas” in the north and south of the besieged Palestinian territory, after Israel resumed air strikes following a ceasefire breakdown. (Photo by Bashar Taleb/AFP Photo)

A girl waits for a devotee to apply a tilak on her forehead during the annual Jhiri Fair at Kanachack village on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Wednesday, November 5, 2025. (Photo by Channi Anand/AP Photo)

People wait to enter the Fashion on the Field event ahead of the Melbourne Cup horse race at the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on November 5, 2024. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

More than 400 people stripped off and ran into freezing waters to celebrate the autumn equinox – and raise money for charity at Druridge Bay, Britain, September 25, 2016. It was the largest turnout the North East Skinny Dip has ever seen in its five-year history, and it was also the first time it has ever rained on the morning of the event. Revellers gathered from 5.30am on Sunday at Druridge Bay, in Northumberland, before baring all in the North Sea. (Photo by David Charlton Photography)

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.

The BADGER shot was a 23 kiloton nuclear bomb. Over 2,000 US soldiers were within 3.7 kilometers of the explosion. (Photo by Alamy Stock Photo)

A woman surveys the damage after the earthquake on March 17, 2011 in Kensennuma, Japan. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)