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.

Mini-pigs perform during the presentation in Balashikha, Russia on December 19, 2018. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Winter swimmers dressed in ballet costumes pose for a photo before diving into the icy water, during a snowfall at a park in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China on February 15, 2019. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)

The International Space Station (ISS) moves along its orbit above at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, July 18, 2019, with a statue of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin in the foreground. Circular star tracks around the Polar Star and tracks of the ISS is the result of the camera multiple exposure with a total duration of two hours. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

The trailer of an articulated lorry juts into the air after the vehicle came off a bridge on Interstate 81 southbound in Butler Township in Pennsylvania, US on November 9, 2021. (Photo by Sean McKeag/AP Photo)

American rapper Ashnikko poses as she arrives for the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in London, Britain on February 11, 2023. (Photo by Maja Smiejkowska/Reuters)

The pelican, named “Ndagabar”, which means pelican in the local Wolof language, begins visiting the neighborhood in the early hours of the day in Saint-Louis, Senegal on November 02, 2024. The pelican, which 62-year-old retired fisherman Madiop Gueye, has been keeping in front of his house for five years, has become the center of both the neighborhood and the region, attracting the attention of both local and foreign tourists. (Photo by Cem Ozdel/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The M25 Fire Spinners practise their skills along the Thames path at Runnymede in Surrey, UK on February 22, 2025. (Photo by Kevin Jay/Picture Exclusive)