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.

People are reflected in a shop window as they walk along a street in a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan June 25, 2015. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

NASA's DHC-3 Otter plane flies in Operation IceBridge-Alaska surveys of mountain glaciers in Alaska in this image released on September 18, 2014. Over the past few decades, average global temperatures have been on the rise, and this warming is happening two to three times faster in the Arctic. (Photo by Chris Larsen/Reuters/NASA/University of Alaska-Fairbanks)

The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities of the Soviet Union. The Chernobyl disaster is the worst nuclear power plant accident in history in terms of cost and resulting deaths, and is one of only two classified as a level 7 event (the maximum classification) on the International Nuclear Event Scale (the other being the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011). Photo: Graffiti of a crying baby on a wall, Chernobyl Power Plant, Chernobyl, Ukraine. (Photo by Hans Neleman/Getty Images)

“Sokolica”. Sokolica, Poland. (Photo and caption by Marcin Kęsek/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

Hooded penitents from “La Borriquita” brotherhood take part during a Holy Week procession in Cordoba, Spain, Sunday, March 29, 2015. Hundreds of processions take place throughout Spain during the Easter Holy Week. (Photo by Manu Fernandez/AP Photo)

Snorkellers approach an adult manatee at Three Sisters Spring, Crystal River, Florida. You might imagine that coming face to face with one of these enormous underwater mammals would cause some concern. However, the likelihood is that the rotund creature just wants you to scratch its belly while it floats around happily, as world-renowned underwater photographer Alex Mustard discovered. (Photo by Alexander Mustard/Barcroft Media)