The rising sun is framed between the lighthouses at the end of the pier in Whitby on the Yorkshire coast on March 18, 2025. (Photo by Andrew McCaren/London News Pictures)

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.

Spain celebrates winning the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 Final match between Spain and England on Sunday, August 20, 2023, at Stadium Australia in Sydney, Australia, (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

U.S. Capitol Police with guns drawn stand near a barricaded door as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, in Washington. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)

Pope Francis looks at an acrobat of the “Black Blues Brothers” performing during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022. (Photo by Andrew Medichini/AP Photo)

A colony of penguins gather with the Bark Europa in the background, on March 05, 2015 in South Georgia Island. An adventurer has documented his 5,000 miles journey aboard a 100-year-old ship, sailing from Argentina to Antarctica to Cape Town. (Photo by Andrew Orr/Barcroft Images)

A day-old lamb exploring new surroundings on the vernal equinox, considered the first day of spring, on March 20, 2019 at Coombes Farm in Lancing, England. (Photo by Andrew Hasson/Getty Images)

The International Space Station (ISS) moving in front of the sun in November 2020 by astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy. These incredible photos capture the clearest images ever taken of the International Space Station (ISS) moving in front of both the moon and the sun. The photos, taken within days of one another, were captured in the space of less than a second, as the space station could be clearly seen zooming across against the bright backdrops of both moon and sun. Photographer Andrew McCarthy, from California, USA, said the photo of the ISS in front of the sun, in broad daylight, was “one of my trickiest shots ever”. (Photo by Andrew McCarthy/South West News Service)