Mark Gee

Australian photographer Mark Gee won top honors in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year context with this picture, which shows off the Milky Way and two of its satellite galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Can you spot them?

In this year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, our Milky Way galaxy takes the starring role — in more ways than one.

Stars seem to spew forth from a lighthouse on the New Zealand coast in the annual contest's winning picture, captured by Australian photographer Mark Gee. "I love the way that the Milky Way appears to emanate from the lighthouse — really cementing the connection between the stars and the landscape," said one of the judges, Pete Lawrence. "I also love the way the Milky Way drags your view out to sea, inviting you to go out and explore the unknown."

Gee said he was spending the night at New Zealand's Cape Palliser and woke up at about 5 a.m. to behold the starry scene. "The only problem was that my camera gear was at the top of the lighthouse ... so I had to climb the 250-plus steps to retrieve it before I could take this photo," he said.

This panorama was stitched together from 20 separate images. The Magellanic Clouds, two of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies, appear as faint smudges on the left side of the image, above the main galactic arc.

This is the fifth year for the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, organized by the Royal Observatory Greenwich. The judges had to choose from a record number of entries: There were more than 1,200 images from 49 countries. Our slideshow features the top photos in several categories. The observatory has also put together a selection of videos that tell the stories behind some of the pictures.

Gee receives the contest's top prize of £1,500 for his image, "Guiding Light to the Stars," but the other photographers are winners, too. The best photos are featured in a free exhibition at the Royal Observatory's Astronomy Center that runs through next February, and in a book published by the observatory. There's even an app for iPhone and iPad.

"Never has our cosmos been captured so beautifully!" said Chris Bramley, editor of BBC Sky at Night Magazine and one of the contest judges. Will the same be said next year? Stay tuned.

Slideshow: Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

Sample breathtaking images of space and the night sky from the Royal Observatory Greenwich's 2013 competition.

Launch slideshow

More astronomical wonders:

• Slideshow: The World at Night 2013
• Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2012
• All-time top 10 astronomy pictures

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the NBC News Science Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with NBCNews.com's stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

Rescue workers use a stretcher to carry a man who was rescued from the collapsed residential building in Mumbai, India on Sept. 27.

Rajanish Kakade / AP

Rescue workers carry a girl out from the rubble of a building that collapsed in Mumbai, Sept. 27.

Divyakant Solanki / EPA

Rescue work in progress after a four-story residential building collapsed in Mumbai on Sept. 27.

Punit Paranjpe / AFP - Getty Images

A woman cries as she waits near the site of a building collapse in Mumbai on Sept. 27.

By Rajendra Jadhav, Reuters

A five-story apartment block collapsed on Friday in the Indian financial center of Mumbai, killing at least four people and trapping scores in the latest accident to underscore shoddy building standards in Asia's third-largest economy.

The building collapsed at about 5:45 a.m. local time (8:30 p.m. ET Thursday) and more than 110 people were still trapped by early afternoon, said Ram Barot, an official of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. The corporation's employees were housed in the building.

A neighbor in the next block said she heard a loud cracking sound as the building caved in.

"As dust settled, I realized BMC building was gone," the neighbor, Catherine James, told Reuters.  Full story.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

Rescue workers use a stretcher to carry a woman pulled from the rubble at the site of a collapsed residential building in Mumbai, Sept. 27.

Divyakant Solanki / EPA

A survivor is rescued from the rubble after a residential building collapsed in Mumbai, Sept. 27.

Mohd Rasfan / AFP - Getty Images

Peter Andexlinger of the U.S.

BASE jumpers from around the world leaped from the 300-meter (984 feet) high deck of Malaysia's landmark Kuala Lumpur Tower on Friday, Sept. 27. Some 103 professional BASE jumpers from 20 countries are taking part in the annual event. 

Mohd Rasfan / AFP - Getty Images

Vincent Philippe Benjamin Reffet of France

Mohd Rasfan / AFP - Getty Images

Vladimir Spigler, left, and Ivan Colella of Italy

Vincent Thian / AP

Kristian Moxnes of Norway

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Slideshow: Last week's winner

Mike Groll / AP

What a croc we got! -- A US Army trainee dressed in an alligator mascot outfit joins fellow cadets in a salute during the national anthem before the football game between Army and Stanford on Sept. 14 in West Point, N.Y.

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Slideshow: The Week in Pictures

Christof Stache / AFP - Getty Images

A hair-raising ride, tragedy in Kenya, an English idyll, a panda presentation, a Jewish celebration and more compelling images.

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Esteban Felix / AP

Nicaraguan girls suffering from cancer dance with army cadets during a quinceañera party in Managua, Nicaragua, on Sept. 21.

Esteban Felix / AP

Mayerling Rivera, who has leukemia, looks through a window before the party.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — For many a teenage girl in Latin America, a quinceañera party is a cherished rite of passage, a traditional coming-out celebration for 15-year-olds.

Not all families can afford the colorful gowns and other niceties for such parties, though. So for each of the past five years, Nicaragua's Association of Mothers and Fathers of Children with Cancer and Leukemia has put on a quinceanera for girls from poor, rural families — teens who have the added burden of dealing with cancer.

This year's party feted 37 girls between ages 14 and 16 on Saturday night at a hotel in Nicaragua's capital, Managua.

Esteban Felix / AP

Yamileth Barrera, left, a 16-year-old from San Jose de Bocay, on a wheelchair she uses due to bone cancer, ties the shoe of her friend Keyling Kenry, who suffers from Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Esteban Felix / AP

Donors, taking the role of "padrinos," or godparents, paid for the girls' dresses and shoes, the floral arrangements, cakes and other refreshments. Each padrino also paid for medicine for three or four of the girls.

Nicaragua's Military Academy sent cadets to be the girls' escorts and dance partners.

Yamileth Barrera, a 16-year-old from San Jose de Bocay, 150 miles north of Managua, said she really enjoyed being with the other girls and wasn't kept from dancing by the wheelchair she uses because of bone cancer.

"I am happy because only once in a life do you celebrate your 15th year," she said.

-- The Associated Press

Esteban Felix / AP

Preparations for the "quinceanera" party in Managua, Nicaragua, on Sept. 21.

Esteban Felix / AP

Girls wait for a car to leave after the party in Managua, Nicaragua, on Sept. 21.

Will they or won't they? Pundits weighed in on whether or not President Obama and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, would shake hands at a United Nations luncheon on Tuesday. While Rouhani did not attend the luncheon, the gesture would have been historic for two countries whose leaders have not met in three decades.  Take a look here at past presidential handshakes weighted with symbolism.

Obama and Gadhafi, 2009

Michael Gottschalk / AFP - Getty Images

President Obama and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi shake hands during the Group of Eight summit in L'Aquila, central Italy, on July 9, 2009. At the time, the handshake was considered a sign that relations were improving with the formerly isolated country, but a civil war and a U.S. and NATO military intervention in 2011 resulted in the ousting and death of Gadhafi.

Obama and Chavez, 2009

Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez shakes hands with President Barack Obama as he presents his with a book, "The Open Veins of Latin America" by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, a book critical of U.S. foreign policy, at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in April 2009. To many of Obama's critics, the handshake was a sign of American weakness.

Reagan and Gorbachev, 1985

AP

President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev shake hands in Nov. 1985 at the Geneva Summit. It was the first face-to-face meeting between leaders of the two countries in six years.

Carter, Sadat and Begin, 1979

Bob Daugherty / AP

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat,left, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin clasp hands on the north lawn of the White House as they completed signing of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel on March 26, 1979.

Carter and the shah of Iran, 1977

Bettmann/CORBIS

Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlovi, the embattled shah of Iran, shakes hands with President Jimmy Carter on Dec. 31, 1977, in Tehran. The shah was overthrown by the Iranian Revolution in Feb. 1979.

Kennedy and Khruschev, 1961

Ron Case / Getty Images

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and President John F. Kennedy shake hands at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna in 1961.

Nixon and Mao, 1972

AP

Chinese communist party leader Mao Zedong, left, and U.S. President Richard Nixon shake hands as they meet on Feb. 21, 1972. Nixon's visit was the first time an American president had visited the People's Republic of China.

Vice President Nixon and Castro, 1959

Keystone / Getty Images

Cuban President Fidel Castro shakes hands with U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon during a press reception in Washington in 1959.

Truman, Churchill and Stalin, 1945

AP

Winston Churchill, left, U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Josef Stalin, right, shake hands in front of Churchill's residence in Potsdam, Germany, on July 23, 1945.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• A historic handshake, a historic image in Northern Ireland's peace process

This story was originally published on Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:32 PM EDT

@jbaiata via Instagram

Original caption from Instagram: My VW making its #MemorialDay debut in the town parade. #Ain'tThatAmerica

With word that the production of the iconic Volkswagen Transporter, more affectionately known as the “bus” will cease at the end of this year, we’re asking readers to share photos and favorite memories of their vehicle.

Show us your VeeDub sitting in the garage, or a snapshot from back in the day. Tag it #NBCNewsPics on Instagram or Twitter, or upload your picture directly by clicking the box below. We’ll share our favorite images here and on our Instagram account.

Our first entry comes from John Baiata, Director of Digital Newsgathering at NBC News. Baiata has this to say about his image:

My first exposure to a VW bus was, like a lot of American kids, via the “Scooby Doo” cartoon and animation’s most famous stoner, Shaggy. The gang always seemed to have fun in theirs – except of course when being pursued by poorly disguised bad guys.

But there’s another reason I have “FUN BUS” as the vanity plate on mine.  It’s impossible to tool around in it and NOT have a smile on your face. Kids flash you the peace sign, other drivers honk to give you their thumbs up, grinning approval. And, inevitably, someone will corral you to share their memories of the bus they grew up with, the life-altering cross-country trip they took in one, or the window-rattling party they held in another.

Mine has been host to countless tailgates, camping trips, outings for ice cream and Sunday drives. I’m on my 3^rd engine, have no heat or a/c and get about 12mpg around town. And I’d no sooner sell it than I would one of my kids. Long live the VW bus!

Editor's note: All photos below provided by readers and have not been verified by NBC News.

This story was originally published on Mon Sep 23, 2013 2:21 PM EDT

Johannes Simon / Getty Images

Revellers reach for the first beer mug at the Hofbrauhaus beer tent during day one of Oktoberfest on Sept. 21 in Munich, Germany.

Michael Dalder / Reuters

A waitress carries mugs of beer during the opening ceremony for Oktoberfest.

The Munich Oktoberfest, which this year will run from Sept. 21 through Oct. 6, is the world's largest beer fest and draws millions of visitors.

Michael Dalder / Reuters

Visitors enjoy a fairground ride in front of St. Paul's Church.

Christof Stache / AFP - Getty Images

Young women in traditional Bavarian Dirndl dresses enjoy a ride.

Frank Leonhardt / EPA

Visitors from the Netherlands raise their mugs in a beer tent on the opening day of Oktoberfest.

Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images

A man rests in a woman's arms at Oktoberfest.

See photos from past Oktoberfests on PhotoBlog

Noor Khamis / Reuters

A police officer holds a gun to provide cover for customers running out as a shooting took place at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi on Sept. 21.

Gunmen stormed a crowded shopping mall frequented by Westerners on Saturday in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, an apparent terror attack that has killed as many as 22 people. Read full story

Slideshow: Gunmen attack mall in Kenya

Simon Maina / AFP - Getty Images

An injured woman is carried away from the mall.

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Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images

Brian Ceballo, left, emerges from the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue as the first to purchase the new iPhone 5 to the cheers of Apple store employees Sept. 20, in New York. Ceballo and a friend waited for fifteen days in line outside the store to be the first to buy the phone.

Andy Wong / AP

Apple employees cheer as a customer enters an Apple store in Wangfujing shopping district in Beijing on Friday, Sept. 20. Apple released the iPhone 5S and 5C models on Friday.

Sean Gallup / Getty Images

People line up outside the Berlin Apple Store to buy the new Apple iPhone 5S and 5C smartphones on the first day of sales on September 20, in Berlin, Germany. The new iPhone 5S and 5C phones went on sale all over the world today and hundreds of customers waited outside the Berlin store in the rain to be among the first to buy the new phones starting at 8am.

Laurent Fievet / AFP - Getty Images

People queue outside an Apple store to purchase the new iPhone 5s and 5c in Hong Kong on September 20. Apple acolytes got their hands on new iPhones in the global roll-out of two new models, but failure to make headway in China and complaints about the price struck a sour note.

Toru Hanai / Reuters

A man and a woman wearing cardboard hats depicting Apple's new iPhone 5C pose for photos as they wait for the release of Apple's new iPhone 5S, near the Apple Store at Tokyo's Ginza shopping district Sept. 19, a day before the iPhone 5S go on sale.

Toru Hanai / Reuters

People sit next to a figurine of Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs and an apple as they wait for the release of Apple's new iPhone 5S near the Apple Store at Tokyo's Ginza shopping district September 19, a day before the iPhone 5S goes on sale.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

The iPhone gold rush is on.

In what has become a worldwide ritual, people lined up around city blocks in Tokyo, braved the rain in Berlin and stood shoulder-to-shoulder in London on Friday to get their hands on Apple’s latest creation.

This particular frenzy is fed by bling: The iPhone 5S, as this generation is called, is available in a muted gold. Technology analysts warned that supplies of that model would dry up quickly.

Apple customers there also said they were proud that, for the first time, Chinese could buy the new iPhone on the same day as Americans. Continue reading.

Vote closed, scroll down to see results.

Slideshow: Last week's winner

Mark Lennihan / AP

We'll miss them -- Dogs leashed to a fence outside of PS 234 in New York City's Manhattan borough watch as children line up for their first day of school on Sept. 8.

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Slideshow: The Week in Pictures

Francisco Seco / AP

A colorful personality, floods' wrath, fun at the ballgame, sins in the Mideast and many more gripping images.

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