A Sikh pilgrim sits next to the holy sarovar or sacred pool on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, in Nankana Sahib on November 19, 2021. (Photo by Aamir Qureshi/AFP Photo)

French photographer Bettina Rheims poses next to her work, two days before the opening of her exhibition “Pourquoi m'as-tu abandonnée ?” (Why did you abandon me?) at the Museum of Photography Charles Negre, in Nice on June 13, 2024. (Photo by Valery Hache/AFP Photo)

Local residents participate in the annual carbide shooting on New Year's Eve in Zwolle, the Netherlands on December 31, 2023. (Photo by Vincent Jannink/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

People ride a Ferris wheel as fireworks illuminate the sky over Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by David Cheskin/Press Association)

“In the late afternoon after a rain, genji botaru fireflies (luciola cruciate) dance above the swollen creek. The rocks darkened by the rain reflecting the blue sky, and the yellow-green ribbon of the glow from the fireflies, make a beautiful contrast”. – Takehito Miyatake. (Photo by Takehito Miyatake/Steven Kasher Gallery)

A man washes his horse as a woman bathes her son at concrete water pens under a flyover in a slum area in Kolkata, India October 21, 2016. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

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.