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.

A man fires a weapon as he dances during a traditional excursion near the western Saudi city of Taif, August 8, 2015. Saudis usually party in such excursions as they celebrate weddings or graduations. (Photo by Mohamed Al Hwaity/Reuters)

Drummers perform during rehearsals at the Bird's Nest National Stadium ahead of the IAAF Athletics World Championships in Beijing on August 20, 2015. The Athletics World Championships will be held at the stadium from August 22 to 30. (Photo by Greg Baker/AFP Photo)

Nigel Lamb from Great Britain, left, leading Juan Velarde of Spain, centre, and Martin Šonka of Czech Republic in the FAI Red Bull air race, Isle of Wight, UK on August 9, 2016. (Photo by Joerg Mitter/Red Bull/Global New/PA Wire)

Elephant polo players in action during the King's Cup Elephant Polo event 2016 final between teams King Power (blue) and The Elephant Story, in Bangkok, Thailand, March 13, 2016. Team King Power won the annual charity event, which is now in its 14th edition. This year's edition involved 18 elephants brought from tourist trekking camps in Pattaya as well as some unemployed in Surin, and a total of 10 teams encompassing over 40 players, in this event directed at raising funds to improve the lives of elephants and elephant conservation. (Photo by Diego Azubel/EPA)

Jack, a Lurcher from Dogs Trust Salisbury, walks past a window display of models in a Dogs Trust shop window in Salisbury, as part of a campaign to discourage the impulse buying of dogs ahead of Valentine's Day, on February 10, 2014. (Photo by Matt Alexander/PA Wire)

A girl lights a candle as she marks the anniversary of 2015 Nepal earthquake, at Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal April 25, 2017. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Bloodthirsty by Thomas P. Peschak, Germany/South Africa — winner, Behaviour: birds. When rations run short on Wolf Island, in the remote northern Galápagos, the sharp-beaked ground finches become vampires. Their sitting targets are Nazca boobies and other large birds. The finches rely on a scant diet of seeds and insects, which regularly dries up, so they drink blood to survive. ‘I’ve seen more than half a dozen finches drinking from a single Nazca booby,’ says Tom. Rather than leave their nests the boobies tolerate the vampires, and the blood loss doesn’t seem to cause permanent harm. (Photo by Thomas P. Peschak/2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year)