Members of the Edo Firemanship Preservation Association balance on top of bamboo ladders during a demonstration at the New Year's fire review held by the Tokyo Fire Department in Tokyo, Japan, 06 January 2016. Some 2,800 firefighters perform various emergency rescue and firefighting demonstrations in an effort to promote the prevention of fire and disaster in the annual event. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/EPA)

A combination picture shows Will Adam, 14, snowboarding down a street on Beacon Hill during a large winter blizzard in Boston, Massachusetts, United States January 27, 2015 (top), and a woman looking at her phone as she walks down the same street June 13, 2015. Outdoor scenes in Boston show local residents enjoying balmy weather amid lush greenery as the summer solstice approaches on 21 June. The very same locations suffered heavy snowstorms last winter, with snow ploughs, skiers and snowboarders battling the drifts. Boston got 275.8 cm of snow over the winter, the most since 1872, when records began. A few months after the snowstorms, Brian Snyder revisited the same places and shot pictures at exactly the same locations. (Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)

Soap Bubble Structures by Kym Cox. Bubbles optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This phenomenon makes them a useful tool in many areas of research, in particular, materials science and “packing” – how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom, which interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst. (Photo by Kym Cox/2019 Science Photographer of the Year/RPS)

Nicki Minaj shows off to the crowd on top of a music truck during the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 26 February 2020. Minaj apologized on 26 February for her husband's behavior after a video showing Petty pushing a well-known local artist. The man had touched Minaj to allegedly encourage her in her performance. (Photo by Dexter Phillip via MoPho for London Entertainment/Splash News and Pictures)

Lady Gaga left her hotel to party in the east end of london for the night on September 10, 2016. She was wearing shiny hot pants and a little crop top showing off some under boob. But had sticky tape covering her nipples. Lady Gaga and Mark Ronson performed her new single “Perfect Illusion” at the General Browning Club in Hackney. Afterwards she went with a few friends to Metropolis strip club in Hackney. Lady Gaga left at 4am and returned to her Hotel. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

A robot using artificial intelligence is displayed at a stand during the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, on May 30, 2024. Humanity is in a race against time to harness the colossal emerging power of artificial intelligence for the good of all, while averting dire risks, a top UN official said. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/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.

“Born in London in 1969 Robert has had a passion for photography since the age of 14. After studying photography at Blackpool and Flyde College he undertook and completed a personal project, which went on to be published into a book called ‘One, Images of a Goalkeeping Season’. Robert has been commissioned for editorial and advertising projects by client based throughout Europe and the U.S. and undertakes commissions for many of the top advertising agencies”. – Tim Mitchell