This handout photograph taken and released by Limex Images for Red Bull on February 6, 2019 shows France's Nicolas Ivanoff flying over the skyline prior to the first stage of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Predrag Vuckovic/AFP Photo)

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.

Flames rage through a pile of tires at the tire dump of Sesena in Toledo, Spain, 13 May 2016. The tire dump reportedly contains over 100,000 tons of tires and reaches to the neighbouring town of Valdemoro in Madrid. According to local authorities, the fire was apparently deliberately started as it had been raining till midnight and the fire started early 13 May 2016 at a small spot in Valdemoro. (Photo by Ismael Herrero/EPA)

Vivid colors and bizarre shapes come together in a false-color image that could be an illustration for a fantasy story. This labyrinth of exotic features winds its way along the edge of Russia’s Chaunskaya Bay in northeastern Siberia, seen as a vivid blue half-circle at the bottom of the image Two major rivers, the Chaun and Palyavaam, flow into the bay, which in turn opens into the Arctic Ocean. Ribbon lakes and bogs are present throughout the area, created by depressions left by receding glaciers. (Photo by USGS/NASA)

The rising sun illuminates the sky above the spires of a church in Vienna, Austria, November 17, 2015. (Photo by Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters)

A demonstrator is detained by police officers during clashes in downtown Barcelona, Spain, Friday, October 30, 2020. Clashes have erupted in a central Barcelona square between anti-riot police and hundreds who had gathered to protest the mandatory closure of bars, restaurants and other businesses in the latest effort to rein in on coronavirus outbreaks. (Photo by Joan Mateu/AP Photo)

A man lying on the ground is assisted by French policemen during clashes bewteen English and Russian supporters in the Old Port of Marseille, France, Saturday, June 12, 2016, before the UEFA EURO 2016 group B match between England and Russia. (Photo by Daniel Dal Zennaro/ANSA via AP Photo)

Aurorae category runner-up: Lone Tree under a Scandinavian Aurora by Tom Archer (UK). The photographer decided to explore the area around the hotel on a very crisp -35C evening in Finnish Lapland. When he found this tree, he decided to wait for the misty conditions to change and could not believe his luck when the sky cleared and the aurora came out in the perfect spot. Archer spent about an hour photographing it before his camera started to lock up because of the harsh conditions, but by then he was happy to call it a night. (Photo by Tom Archer/2020 Astronomy Photographer of the Year)