I do so love astronomy.
I love the knowledge we have of how the cosmos works. I love understanding the size and scale of things, the motions of the Universe, the interaction of objects through gravity, electromagnetism, and collisions. I love sitting out under a dark sky and soaking in the cold, dim points of light, and knowing that we know what they are and how they work, the first generations of humans on Earth who can make such a boast.
And I love the pictures.
Galaxies, moons, supernovae, planets, nebulae, dust… all of it. The Universe is saturated in beauty, and our technology is starting to catch up with it. We can capture the glowing glamor of the cosmos, and stare in awe and rapture.
Every year, more and more images become available of astronomical objects. And every year I try to pick my favorite ten to post here at the year’s end (check out 2007 and 2006). This year, the ten I have chosen have a significant distance bias; they lean toward being very close. But don’t fret: they range in distance literally from the closest to the farthest objects we can see.
This list is mine, and has my bias. I choose the pictures for beauty, for scientific interest, for both or for neither. Sometimes they’re just cool, and sometimes they are a little frightening, but I hope they all will make you think, and move you in some way. Under most images is a link to embiggen them quite cromulently.
Ready? Strap yourself in. We’re traveling from here to eternity! To begin your journey, you can click the "Next" button under the image above, or just start here.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:43 am
RE: “I love understanding the size and scale of things, the motions of the Universe, the interaction of objects through gravity, electromagnetism, and collisions.”
REALLY? How about addressing REAL data & issues such as presented in the Looonnnngg input on the previous blog comments section?? There’s a lot of really odd things being observed with the sun & its interaction with the Earth’s magnetic field & ionosphere, including an observation that, prior to being observed, was thought to be impossible.
Or we can stick to the pretty pictures (which, by the way, weren’t accessible…at least when this blog entry was posted) and other fluff.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:00 am
K, he spends the entire blog discussing the nitty-gritty of space travel. As he said in the post, “I choose the pictures for beauty, for scientific interest, for both or for neither.”
Astronomy creates some of the most beautiful images that mankind has come up with. The whole point of the Top Ten Pictures is to highlight the best.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:04 am
Wow. I know someone that needs to relax a little bit. Put some brandy in your egg nog, light a fire, and chill out.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Great collection, as usual!
Quibble on #4: There *are* more stars in spiral arms, but the contrast between the arm and the inter-arm region isn’t as striking as it appears because of the young stars.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Meh, looks photoshopped to me
http://xkcd.com/331/
December 17th, 2008 at 7:20 am
I wouldn’t normally, but in the circumstances…
“I love understanding the size and scale of things, the motions of the Universe, the interaction of objects through gravity, electromagnetism, and collisions.”
Word. Thank you, Phil, and here’s to 2009.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Some of them I don’t agree with, but I’m completely in alignment on number 1 – an amazing achievement.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:38 am
It’s about time you posted this with all the twitter teasing you’ve been doing about it!
Thank you, and inspiring as always. And to think, some people don’t like science for whatever reason. They don’t know what they are missing!
December 17th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Another amazing top ten. Every year it seems it will be harder to top. But while the pace seems slow sometimes, every year there are new discoveries that will continue to spark our imagination. Looking forward to 2009!
Thanks Phil.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:52 am
WOW!
December 17th, 2008 at 8:01 am
“Galaxies, moons, supernovae, planets, nebulae, dust… all of it. The Universe is saturated in beauty, and our technology is starting to catch up with it. We can capture the glowing glamor of the cosmos, and stare in awe and rapture.”
What makes me most excited of all is the knowledge that technology improves (more or less) monotonically, and at an ever-increasing rate!
These images are amazing and wonderful to behold, but I can never refrain from wondering… what new images will we see next year?
Beautiful, Phil. Absolutely fantastic!
December 17th, 2008 at 8:06 am
NGC 7331 (Number 4: Spiral Art) looks like it’s interacting with something. There is more than one axis of symmetry there. Cool!
Great selections, Phil!
December 17th, 2008 at 8:15 am
[...] boomchi | No comments For some reason I couldn’t find the top ten pictures of Astrology, so these will have to [...]
December 17th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Awesome. Waycool. Number 4 looks like a painting or an artists rendition instead of a photo. My reaction when I saw it was, “No way.” But, Way. Its cool to see that real life can be so beautiful.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Best.Image.Ever. That image makes me shiver with pride and wonder everytime I look at it. Simply Amazing!!
December 17th, 2008 at 8:28 am
@ Richard:
I was wondering about that, too. Very obvious undulations across the disk. Someone must be getting a bumpy ride as they zip around that galaxy.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:30 am
I love picture number 5 and pictures like that. Although they are all lovely, its pictures of multiple galaxies that really hammer home the vastness of our universe, especially since it may in addition also just be one of many realities.
I do crack up though whenever someone says something like ‘we’re clever, we humans’. For multiple reasons. The most obvious one is that the sentence should read ‘a tiny handful of us humans are clever, the rest is mediocre to extremely stupid (and sometimes enforces its stupidity on the smart ones to boot!).’ But also because humans have nothing else to compare their intelligence too. For all humans know the average intelligence for a sentient species is well above that of the average intelligence for humans. We don’t really know if we’re clever, because we don’t know anything comparable we can really honestly be compared to. For all we know human technological progress is actually slow as hell for a technology using tooluser.
Humans = Vastly overrated, clever individuals amongst them or not. (I mean those individuals are pretty cool, but the species on the whole not so much. To many morons.)
December 17th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Awesome list! Number 8 (the pretty galaxy one) is my new desktop!
December 17th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Top 10 imágenes astronómicas del 2008
Cada año Bad Astronomy realiza su listado de las imágenes mas sobresalientes. Acá las del 2008
December 17th, 2008 at 8:35 am
Fantastic – I love the top ten every year, for the pictures I missed seeing and for the ones I may have forgotten (the HiRISE avalanche on Mars I had forgotten…. and it’s wow all over again.)
I use images like these in lectures, and I have to think they’re infinitely more inspiring to the students than some dry recitation of factoids — and it’s even more fun when they ask questions about images they’ve seen online outside of class.
I do science because I love the intellectual discovery – and sometimes part of that is staring slack-jawed at fantastic images like these… and then figuring out what we’re seeing and what that means for astronomy (or geology, or atmospheric physics, etc. etc.). So thanks for the not-so-fluffy piece – I can’t wait for next year!
December 17th, 2008 at 8:42 am
I like #4 and #3 the best. #4 is just sheer visual awesomeness — astronomy-pic porn — while #3 vividly gives me the feeling of being down on/near the surface of another world, a world that in many ways is really quite a lot like ours.
Sooo where’s my Mars rocket?
December 17th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Thanks Phil, wonderful, inspiring choices. You do link-bait the way it should be done!
December 17th, 2008 at 8:53 am
I nominate #1 for Best of the Decade. A snapshot of an event in the 5-billion year history of Mars that lasted for 5 minutes. An event of our making. A robot photographing another robot on a different world.
Yeah, we humans are clever. I’d go with us over any extra-solar species you’d care to name.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Oh snap!
Soooooooo cool. Thanks Phil. I like the images, I like ‘em all. And I totally appreciate that you took the time to explain them (which increases their wow factor appreciably).
My 2 runners up are the Martian landslide and Fomalhaut B. “The Descent of Man” though- it’s just epic. It’s really not that “pretty”, it doesn’t look like much really, but it is absolutely frackin awesome in what it represents.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Great list. I knew for sure the fomalhaut pic would be on there, and it’s still my favorite.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:18 am
So, what happens when an even cooler picture come out next week? Isn’t it really the “top ten astronomy pictures of the first 50 weeks of 2008″?
Gotta agree that #1 isn’t much to look at, but taken in context of “the whole story” it’s pretty cool. Even better than the Martial rovers on the surface as seen from orbit, due to the transitory nature of the image.
And, while clicking “next” under the image does take me to the next image, the “start here” link in the main text is 404-compliant.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:18 am
That should, of course, be “Martian rovers”. Where’s that darn “edit” button?
December 17th, 2008 at 9:23 am
How dare you give us beautiful pictures and enjoy what our technological advances allow us to see! Science isn’t about fun or beauty! It’s about numbers and mind-numbing calculations!
For Shame!
December 17th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Saurons eye and spiral galaxies,,,so,,,fraking,,,COOL!
Tanks Phil,,
Gary 7
December 17th, 2008 at 9:25 am
[...] astrogeek Phil Plait has finally posted the long-awaited, much-anticipated, ever-twittered-about Top Ten list Posted in Astronomy Blogroll, Astronomy Imagery, Bad Astronomy. Tags: astronomy, astronomy [...]
December 17th, 2008 at 9:35 am
What? No cosmic middle finger (carina nebula)?
Surely a photo of God flipping off Pat Robertson is worth a mention.
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6845/994/1600/carina_hst.jpg
December 17th, 2008 at 9:36 am
#3 “Marsalanche” is actually a detail block from a HIRES image that captured “at least four” (according to the source website) avalanches. There’s another one caught in progress in the same picture here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/2xebjp
December 17th, 2008 at 9:45 am
I like the picture of Mercury’s stretch marks because they indicate expansion tectonics and planetary growth beyond any reasonable doubt.
But my favorite picture has got to be NGC 7331 because the spiral shape of galaxies defies the Newtonian God’s allgeed universal so-called “law” of gravitation.
According to Newtonian divine gravity, galaxies should be sphere shaped since gravity is alleged to act equally in all directions.
However, the galaxies are spiral shaped and flat in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field of the quasar thus proving that gravity is a myth.
P.S. There was no Big Bang.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:50 am
This is the post I look forward to most each year. Inspiring images, information written so even I can understand it about each of ‘em. Thanks Phil!
Also, love the new gallery thingie.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:51 am
I love #1 because it all had to be scheduled ahead of time, due to communication delay times.
@OilIsMastery: Ahem.. ever heard of “angular momentum”?
December 17th, 2008 at 9:56 am
@OIM
Apparently you missed this little line in the description of that picture:
So, there is some doubt as to whether or not it is “expansion tectonics” causing the rays.
BTW, still waiting for that answer to my question over on the Enceladus thread.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Mike, the Carina finger is a personal favorite of mine, but note the date on this post.
The Carina image came out almost a decade ago!
And OilIsMastery, why don’t you do some actual research on how these things work before saying silly things? Spiral arms are very well understood (I’ve written about them many times). Mercury’s scarps are from shrinking, not expanding. And everything else you say shows a profound ignorance of any astronomy from about 1950 on. If you want to be considered as anything other than a troll, I suggest you read up on these things rather than spout out your beliefs here.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Wow, the more I read from OIM, the more concerned I get for humanity. Mick summed it up pretty good if you take OIM as a datapoint. Seems that some human beings are clever, the rest just like to leech of the clever ones!
December 17th, 2008 at 10:04 am
@Phil
Ahhh…thanks for the correction. I hadn’t gone back to read the original post on that picture and just skimmed the description under this one and picked up the impact crater bit.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:05 am
PG,
In response to “ever heard of angular momentum”?
Yes actually. It requires the Newtonian God. Ever heard of Isaac Newton and fixed stars?
Phil,
The spiral shape of galaxies defies the alleged law of gravity.
As far as astromony prior to 1950, I wish people were ignorant of astornomy prior to 1950 because most astronomy prior to 1959 is pre-Space Age and belongs in the garbage can.
“Books written about the solar system before the advent of the space age could as well have been written in Latin or Greek, so dated do they appear to a contemporary reader.” — Zdenek Kopal, astronomer, 1973
December 17th, 2008 at 10:13 am
My new favorite word for the next 24 hours. Crank!
OIM is a crank. Cranks have these virtually universal characteristics:
1. Cranks overestimate their own knowledge and ability, and underestimate that of acknowledged experts.
2. Cranks insist that their alleged discoveries are urgently important.
3. Cranks rarely if ever acknowledge any error, no matter how trivial.
4. Cranks love to talk about their own beliefs, often in inappropriate social situations, but they tend to be bad listeners, and often appear to be uninterested in anyone else’s experience or opinions.
5. No discernible sense of humour.
In addition, many cranks
1. seriously misunderstand the mainstream opinion to which they believe that they are objecting,
2. stress that they have been working out their ideas for many decades, and claim that this fact alone entails that their belief cannot be dismissed as resting upon some simple error,
3. compare themselves with Galileo or Copernicus, implying that the mere unpopularity of some belief is in itself evidence of plausibility,
4. claim that their ideas are being suppressed by secret intelligence organizations, mainstream science, powerful business interests, or other groups which, they allege, are terrified by the possibility of their allegedly revolutionary insights becoming widely known,
5. appear to regard themselves as persons of unique historical importance.
Cranks who contradict some mainstream opinion in some highly technical field, such as mathematics or physics, almost always
1. exhibit a marked lack of technical ability,
2. misunderstand or fail to use standard notation and terminology,
3. ignore fine distinctions which are essential to correctly understanding mainstream belief.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Oh lord, may there be a rain of brain!!
(probably this is miserable english, but I didn’t know how to give it a proper translation)
Oh, wonderful pics indeed! Sometimes it is just relaxing to look at such photos and consider the beauty of the universe (even the scariest things have some kind of beauty, do they not?) and just forget about the stupid human beings running over this tiny planet. I love physics!
December 17th, 2008 at 10:15 am
OIM- Do you think that gravity can bend light?
Do you think any kind of radiation from the sun (or other celestial body) can cause earthquakes on earth?
December 17th, 2008 at 10:17 am
@Cheyenne
IIUC, OIM does not believe that gravity exists.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:49 am
OMG, who’d have thought that the web’s #1 skeptic would choose a picture of a UFO (from a Martian’s viewpoint) as his top astro photo of 2008? See, they do exist! ;< )
December 17th, 2008 at 10:55 am
@Metre
Hehehehe.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:06 am
@ DrFlimmer:
“Oh lord, may there be a rain of brain!!”
Haw haw! My new catchphrase!
December 17th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Thank you for responding to my questions. I was just wondering what to make of your theories. I’ve definitely made up my mind now. Thanks.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:10 am
@OIM
If there is no gravity, then what causes objects to fall?
December 17th, 2008 at 11:13 am
A slideshow? Bad Phil, bad. Slideshows are a pox on the internet.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Has anyone seen the blurb over at Scientific American about the Catalina Sky Survey? They noted a telescope in Tucson Arizona was able to find and track the small asteroid before it entered the atmosphere over the Sudan. That’s a nice step in the right direction.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:25 am
How come Saturns rings are in single plane perpedicular to Saturn’s magnetic field?
December 17th, 2008 at 11:33 am
The Saturn shot in 2006 is so worth a revisit! I just saw that again from your top 10 in 2006. And Mira, in 2007, is just a bruiser!
December 17th, 2008 at 11:34 am
@OIM
For your source, you cite a toy?
As to your other questions, I’ll let the physicists answer.
Here’s a question, if the Earth is such a powerful electromagnet, then how can a magnet that is many times smaller than the Earth, made of materials in the Earth, counteract the Earth’s pull?
December 17th, 2008 at 11:37 am
@OIM
If like charges repel, then why aren’t things just flying off the Earth?
Your arguments are starting to sound so silly, that I wonder if you aren’t just a Poe.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:37 am
OilIsMastery’s comments here are analogous to the groaning noises made by some adolescent punk(s) in the audience at a cinema during love scenes on the screen.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:37 am
@OIM
Oh, and by the way, I’m still awaiting your answer to my question on the Enceladus thread.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Phil,
Carina nebula images come out all the time.
Here is an HST press release less than a month old, and it contains the middle finger:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0822.html
It shows up nicely in Image 2.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:45 am
OilIsMastery – at this point (and many other points, in many other threads, I might add), you’re just making yourself sound like a nutcase by going against what nearly every other BABloggee holds true, without adequately supporting your claims.
Now, if you’re a scientist in any “hard” field, be it physics, mathematics, astronomy, or whatever, please let us know. Also, if you could cite some papers backing your claims, that would be nice. Or if you could provide a reasonable motive for scientists the world over to ignore these obviously crucial concerns about accepted theories of cosmology, that would do much to settle my doubts.
As it is, though – and don’t take this personally – I think you should try to get access to either a better education or a mental institution.
Best wishes!
December 17th, 2008 at 11:57 am
@OIM
Wait, so your explanation for why a small magnet can counteract the Earth’s supposed magnetic pull is because like charges repel. But things don’t go flying off the Earth because opposite charges attract. So, when a small magnet is involved, what, according to you, is happening. Please explain in detail with appropriate citations to back up your claims.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
I am suspecting Poe’s Law, except that I may also be getting lulled by the notion that no one could conceivably be this big a loon… It’s so frightening!
December 17th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
I think it’s incredible that such a post like this, which we should all be happy to see because of the wonderful images in it gets thorn apart due to a couple of moronic comments. Isn’t it possible that -just for once- we may have ONLY comments from normal thinking people? What’s with these guys? Gravity is not real? The earth is a magnet and the moon is moving away because charges repel? Geeesh!
December 17th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Oh, and wonderful work Phil. The pictures are really amazing! Happy 2009
December 17th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Phil, these images are great. I love this entry. There’s something wonky in your code, though – an open image alt tag or something. Hover your mouse over one of the pictures to see what I mean.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
The Moon is made from green cheese and as we all know green cheese is least magnetic of all known cheeses. While all other cheeses have a magnetic constant of +1 Rennet (which is just enough to keep them on your table or fridge shelf), green cheese have a magnetic constant of -3.14159 Rennet which not only makes it round but also repels it from earth.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
At the risk of actually commenting on your pictures , Phil…
I don’t envy you the task of picking only 10 photos.
Still, once again you’ve given us staggering, awe-inspiring, humbling, exciting, provocative, images complete with explanations and observations that boggle the mind. Looking at these pics and concentrating on what they are – what’s going on in our universe even our own solar system, can be a life changing event.
I’ve just looked at all 10 and now I need to lie down for a bit.
Excellent work, Phil.
(and what is that crazy, gyro-scope looking galaxy to the left NGC7331!? The whole picture looks like a CG image for a Star Wars movie!)
(As for OIM and the rest of his ilk, I’ll save some space on the server and refrain from dignifying his silliness with a reply.)
December 17th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Quite amazing. There where so many photographic achievements this year, to narrow them down to just ten, is not a job I’d envy or try. Can’t say I agree with your choice, but that is normal. I really liked that you gave solid explanations for each of your choices.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
OIM:
Of course there was. I saw it just this past Monday night, 8PM on CBS.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Folks, I now consider OilIsMastery to be a troll, and his comments will be marked as spam on sight. Please don’t bother responding to him. He is not interested in learning, and will only serve to lower the signal-to-noise here.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Ken B:
It’s just a theory.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I was just startin’ laughin’ about OIM
He reminded me of the South Park episodes about the Mormons:
“OiM thought he was clever, dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb!
He thought he was a scientist, dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb!”
@Tarrkid: A scientific theory!
December 17th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
To anyone who thinks OIM has Poed us all, check out his blog. Now that’s a lot of effort for a prank.
So, OilIsMastery, if indeed you are made of delicious satire, I salute you!
December 17th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
@Phil
Awwww…but I was looking forward to reading OilIsMastery’s explanation of how magnets work, not to mention seeing his evidence that the Earth is expanding.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Oh, and I almost forgot the most important thing: Great selection, Phil!
December 17th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
OIM should move from “Bad Astronomy” to the “Expelled!” web site, thereby raising the IQ on both sites.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Thanks Phil!
Back to the images: GAAAAAAWK!
That edge-on spiral art image is just incredible! I’ve seen most of the other ones in the list, but not only have I never seen this one before, I think it deserves a higher rank! Holy moly!
Beautiful beyond words is right: here I was trying to say something about this stunning image, and what comes out is holy moly. I’d be annoyed at myself if I wasn’t still transfixed by this picture…
Yes, I’m typing this comment blindly, while looking at the picture… I guess I’ll scroll down and submit…
December 17th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
That’s it!
I call Poe’s Law on OiM.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
@DrFlimmer:
Oh, good! I like scientific theories much better.
All that research and data and peer-reviewed papers gets me all tingly inside…
December 17th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Beautiful.
Check out these videos on the Spitzer Space telescope from UCTV.
http://www.uctv.tv/search-moreresults.asp?keyword=revealing+a+hidden+universe&searchsub=no&x=0&y=0
December 17th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
*eyeroll* WTF is up with this widespread planetist discrimination against plutinos?
December 17th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
The pic of the W5 nebula made my day. Considering turning it into a christmas card. Thank Phil!
December 17th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Now that the fly is out of the ointment, I love the pictures.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
As much as I am awed by the achievement of #1, I gotta say that #4 is my personal favorite. Incredible.
I know the universe is relieved to hear this.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
@ Phil Plait,
According to O.I.M.’s web-site, he has already been banned from these forums which he refers to as “20th Century Thought Police”:
SciForums.Com (Banned)
TheScienceForum.Com (Banned)
BAUTForum.Com (Banned)
PhysicsForums.Com (Banned)
ILovePhysics.Com (Banned)
ChemicalForums.Com (Banned)
Chemicool.Com (Banned)
PeakOil.Com (Banned)
December 17th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
@Phil
Looks like you got rid of one troll to make room for another.
@TRUECRISTIAN
How very, um, Christian of you…not.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
@IVAN3MAN
Big Brother’s watching. What does 2+2 equal again?
December 17th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Thomas Siefert, you spoke too soon; another fly has landed in the ointment!
December 17th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
@Phil Plait and IVAN3MAN
Truecristian seems to be a rather busy little spammer. He’s apparently got posts over at History Channel and HBO, a MySpace page and so forth. I also found this little bit at librarything.com:
And I found that stuff on just the first google page of his name.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Same fly I’d say, just seem to be to much of a coincidence.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
@ Todd W.,
4
December 17th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Todd W:
3*
December 17th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
@ Truechristian
Not the words of a true christian.
Awesome pictures.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
[...] Top 10 Astronomy pictures of 2008. [...]
December 17th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I want OilIsMastery back! At least he was funny.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
@ Todd W.,
RE: “TRUECRISTIAN”
Well, that figures!
December 17th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I was planning on showing some of Nova’s Origins to my middle school science class tomorrow, but I think they’re getting your slideshow instead. Beautiful.
December 17th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Out frackin standing. Everytime I see a galaxy on it’s side, I think how odd it looks. Like the galaxies inhabitants are all on worlds that are on their side. Ah, the universe.
December 17th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
[...] titulada avalanchas en Marte y de la que ya explicó por aquí Wicho en su día es una de las 10 mejores fotos de astronomía de 2008 según Phil Plait. Es el mismo autor de lo que anteriormente se conocía como BadAstronomy.com cuyo [...]
December 17th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
At first I was enjoying them but none were particularly special, well they all are really, but not in comparison to each other as they are all pretty special. However, like you, The descent of Man is also the one that stands out for me and for much the same reasons. My only regret is that I won’t live long enough to be able to personally watch a similar type of sight from orbit.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
TRUECHRISTIAN is now considered a troll as well. Ignore him, and I will mark his comments as spam.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
[...] don’t have much to write about today so instead everyone should take a look at the Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008. Tags: Astronomy, Bad Astronomy, Pictures Comment (RSS) [...]
December 17th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
firemancarl,
I think we on on our sides too. Of course it is all relative in space (does that even need to be said?). But if I am not mistaken, the plane of our solar system does not align with the plane of the Milky Way. Nor does our rotational axis align with that of our galaxy. Everything is topsy turvy.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Great selections, Phil. Pics like these put an absolutely stupid grin on my face.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
about the martian landslides. if youlook at the high res image and follow the link in the text showing multiple slides, it would appear that there are two slides happening at exactly the same time. they are caught in the same larger frame. and they would appear to be a few kilomters appart.
so, to all you geologists out there, what are the chances of two slides happening at the same time, lets say 2 miles appart, on the side of a cliff? To me this would suggest that perhaps there is a reason why they are happenig concurrently, like pershps an earthquake? although all i have read suggests Mars is not geologically actve. could this be proof to the contrary?
December 17th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
AH, Trolls, ya gotta luv ‘em. All day long they sit under a bridge, asking rediculous questions and making equally ludicrous statements about the nature of reality,,,such lonely critters,,,
,,,too bad they eat people,,,
GAry 7
December 17th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I think it may have been the #1, or maybe the avalanche on Mars. But somehow, my admiration and hunger for science has just grown deeper. It really hit me differently after viewing the top 10.
So.. Thank You!
sigh… I think I just might break down in tears when the first human steps foot on Mars.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
and yes, those are tears of joy I speak of
December 17th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Thanks for spending the time to look at all the many images necessary to find these and for presenting them in a fashion that connects human dreams, ingenuity and technical finesse so plainly to all of the spectacle around us.
[grin] It all makes me feel so special, finding myself right here in the middle of it. [/grin]
Actually, it all makes me feel so special to belong to the specie I do at the time that I do in the place that I do. This makes it possible to celebrate the wonder of human achievement at the same time of year that I celebrate the wonder of the human compassion. So what if they are damn near the same thing?
Happy crimble, Phil. Here’s looking forward to a new year with you.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I actually made the
face when I saw the Phoenix picture XD There’s a reason I printed it out and stuck it on to my whiteboard – it’s inspiring! We made it. We sent it to another pattern. And as it descended, another robotic probe we made – IN ORBIT – took a photo of it. It may not be visually stunning, but DAMN.
And if I didn’t already have Enceladus as my desktop, I’d totally make number four it. The Mars landslide, too, is amazing – this is why I want to study planetary science! I want to be a geologist… on Mars! (Areologist?) And, of course, Fomalhaut B is just epic!
So – fantastic, amazingly gorgeous photos, Phil
Let’s hope 2009 brings even more spectacular images!
December 17th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Alex, that’s a good question. It’s possible that the whole region is crumbling, and when one landslide let go, it was enough to destabilize the other part and it let go as well.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
[...] Follow Me Here… “I am the world crier, & this is my dangerous career… I am the one to call your bluff, & this is my climate.” —Kenneth Patchen (1911-1972) « George Tenet’s Drunken Tirade Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008 18 Dec 08 via Bad Astronomy, thanks to kottke. [...]
December 17th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
There are a fair number of pics here that are far off and away not on my favourite pic list. I don’t even like some of them. But those 2 galaxy pics and the Phoenix pic are 3 of my favourite space images ever.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Beautiful. Thanks Phil, and thanks for posting this stuff throughout the year.
I am still awed by GRB080319B. I wish I’d seen it with my naked eye.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Phil Plait: “TRUECHRISTIAN is now considered a troll as well. Ignore him, and I will mark his comments as spam.”
About time, Phil!
Anyway, I guessed that you would select the “The Decent of Man” (wait until the fascist-feminists hear about that: “Man?! Man?! It’s PERSON!”
) as your #1 Astronomy Picture of 2008, because of the excitement about it that you displayed on your “TheBadAstronomer” YouTube channel.
Next year, Phil, how about offering a prize to whoever can guess your top 3 or 4 selections for Astronomy Picture of 2009 in the correct order?
December 17th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Nice pics. Gotta say though, ranking the first image of a planet outside the solar system #2 is laughable. Yes, I know there is evidence for exoplanets from many other sources (wobble, dimming, etc..), but not nearly as direct. Some of the other pictures are more attractive, but come on. This is one of the most important pictures taken. Ever.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:02 am
If “a monster elliptical galaxy over 300 million light years away” so, then the image we could see now in the picture was generaed 300 Millions years which was captured by hubbble telescope by now as light in that image travelled 300 million years.
What could be the current state( as of today)? that galazy absorbed some more fellows or had big bang or any such things. But sadly we’ll get to know that only after 300 million years after. is it not?
December 18th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Kümme parimat astronoomiafotot 2008
December 18th, 2008 at 1:00 am
[...] Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008 | Bad Astronomy [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 1:05 am
When I see those huge planets I feel so small… lol
Good job!
I posted in my spanish blog, thnx!
December 18th, 2008 at 2:05 am
[...] titulada avalanchas en Marte y de la que ya explicó por aquí Wicho en su día es una de las 10 mejores fotos de astronomía de 2008 según Phil Plait. Es el mismo autor de lo que anteriormente se conocía como BadAstronomy.com cuyo [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 2:56 am
Najlepsze zdjęcia z astronomii w 2008r.[pics]
Najlepsze zdjęcia z astronomii w 2008r.[pics]
December 18th, 2008 at 3:00 am
[...] Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008 | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine – [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 3:06 am
[...] Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008 | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine Really good collection of top astronomy pictures for the year. Nice list. (tags: science list astronomy photography) Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 3:48 am
Thanks Phil. The Phoenix descent is my fave too. But also #10 Mercury (I’ve been following that mission very closely. Also #7 the galaxy field, it gives you a real sense of perspective.
Beautifully done there.
December 18th, 2008 at 4:27 am
@IVAN3MAN
But, the psychics would win every time! Or, then again, only as often as educated guessing and change would allow.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:11 am
@ Todd W.,
Ah, the only thing that psychics’ can pick successfully is their own noses.
Er… 4:27 am? I presume that you reside in the U.S., so are you up early or up late?
December 18th, 2008 at 5:34 am
Superb pick of pics, Phil!
Haven’t we got a brilliant set of telescopes out there right now? And not even one Cassini image!
Still, we have pics from Swift, Deep Impact/EPOXI, MRO, Spitzer, Hubble and Messenger. And two ground-based scopes. BTW, not liking the gallery format so much, as the firewall where I work is extremely tight and it takes ages to move from one pic to the next.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:41 am
@João-
Are you João Magueijo? As in “professor in Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London” João? I’m guessing yes because that isn’t a common name to begin with and you obviously are into Astonomy/Cosmology.
To any BABlogees out there- his book “Faster Than The Speed of Light” is really interesting (and kind of funny too). He also had a neat show on Discovery or National Geographic (I can’t remember) about the origins of the universe.
Man, got some intellectual heavies around here (although, of course, I could be completely wrong. But I’ll bet a buck I’m not).
December 18th, 2008 at 5:43 am
Thomas Siefert said:
I have to take issue with you here, Thomas. It is widely understood that only pies can have magnetic constants with modulus 3.14159. This is a schoolboy error. Shame on you!
December 18th, 2008 at 5:45 am
[...] Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008; courtesy of one of Greg’s top ten friends of 2008. [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 6:01 am
[...] Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008 | Bad Astronomy – tags: science images space Leave a Reply [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Nigel Depledge:
So, Nigel, are you also goofing off at work like Larian LeQuella?
December 18th, 2008 at 6:24 am
@IVAN3MAN
Up early, before work, east coast of the U.S., so add 2 hours to my posting times.
@Cheyenne
João is not all that uncommon. It’s the Portugese version of John.
@Nigel
Au contraire, edam and gouda wheels can also have a constant of 3.14159, but only when the researcher is eating a pie. I’ll have to agree with you, though, that green cheese does not have that constant, nor do cheddar blocks.
December 18th, 2008 at 6:54 am
Regarding the green cheese, I’m right and you’re *NARF!* wrong. Can you provide any links at all to back up your claims (I will *NARF!* disregard any pre-lactic acid theories as they are all rubbish)?
December 18th, 2008 at 7:01 am
[...] Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008 | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine (tags: astronomy photography cool science) [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 7:07 am
[...] 10 Astronomy Pictures of 2008 18 12 2008 Pincha AQUÍ para ver las mejores fotografías astronómicas tomadas en [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 7:12 am
“I know someone that needs to relax a little bit. Put some brandy in your egg nog, light a fire, and chill out.”
Please, don’t be giving that guy matches. Who knows what he’ll do.
December 18th, 2008 at 7:36 am
@Thomas Siefert
Pinky, your head contains more cheese than the moon.
(It’s Pinky, Pinky and the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain.)
December 18th, 2008 at 8:16 am
[...] Esta fotografía tomada por la cámara HiRISE forma parte de las mejores diez fotos de la astronomía de 2008 según Phil Plait. Para ver las otra nueve, haz clic Aqui. [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 8:26 am
[...] por Jordi Guzman en Diciembre 18, 2008 En Bad Astronomy han presentado las diez fotografías astronómicas del 2008, vale la pena pasarse por allí y [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Im wandering if NASA can actually slam an automatic drilling machine into a comet then imbed a telescope into it that will transmit pictures taken from a view of the comet…hmmmm
pwede kaya?
December 18th, 2008 at 9:26 am
@M4RK
That’s a pretty neat idea.
December 18th, 2008 at 9:28 am
What about comet holmes exploding?
December 18th, 2008 at 9:30 am
[...] Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008 | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine (tags: magazine media photography photo images picture astronomy 2008 topten) [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 9:45 am
[...] Astronomy honors the arbitrary “end” of the solar orbit by choosing the Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008. (The Mantis God is displeased by his exclusion, and curses Phil Plait with a backyard full of [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 9:46 am
@ thomas siefert:
“It is widely understood that only pies can have magnetic constants with modulus 3.14159. This is a schoolboy error.”
I believe the Wallace-Gromit experiment proved with some degree of certainty the cheesy properties of the moon. The only ones who deny the attractive nature of cheese are crackers.
December 18th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Teh Wallace-Gromit Moon eXpedition WAS faked! Teh WENSLEYDALE Dairies lead by Peter Sallis was behind this HOAX with Mr. Sallis HIMSELF voicing one of the SO-CALLED Lunar travellers.
How people can be fooled by this is beyond me, it looks like STOP-motion animation for FSM’s sake!
December 18th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
[...] Jag vill redan nu rekommendera Bad Astronomys “Årets 10 bästa astronomibilder“. [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
[...] dilación, hoy incluyo una fabulosa galería del gran Phil Plait de badastronomy.com, donde desgrana las mejores fotos astronómicas de 2008 (calcái nel link, rufianes) Con avalancha en Marte incluida. Como dirían los lingüísticamente [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
[...] Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008 | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
[...] jag ändå är inne på ämnet fina bilder så tänkte jag avsluta med att hänvisa till Phil Plaits Bad Astronomy där han går igenom sina tio favoritbilder från 2008 inom [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
[...] Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008 | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine – [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
[...] Holey Atmosphere! Space Pics December 19, 2008 The Bad Astronomy blog has posted its ten best space pics of the year. Some of them are phenomenal, here’s my [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
[...] Cool astronomy pictures [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
[...] Οι δέκα κορυφαίες φωτογραφίες αστρονομίας της χρονιάς που πέρασε. Νιώθω μικρός. [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
[...] Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008 | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine (tags: lists astronomy 2008 photos) [...]
December 19th, 2008 at 1:14 am
[...] en kul årskrönika som kommit ut i dagarna är Phil Plaits lista över årets 10 bästa astrobilderna. Vinnaren? Landaren Phoenix’ fallskärmsfärd ner till Mars yta, fångad från rymden av [...]
December 19th, 2008 at 9:43 am
[...] Die Top astronomischen Bilder des Jahres [...]
December 19th, 2008 at 11:19 am
[...] 4. Via Kottke, top astronomy photos [...]
December 19th, 2008 at 11:59 am
[...] off Somali pirates with Molotov cocktails. – Real-life Dilbert manager quotes. – Top 10 astronomy pictures of 2008. Posted in: [...]
December 19th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
[...] top Mug Shots of 2008 2008: The Year In Tech The top 10 Astronomy Photos from 2008 The Year in [...]
December 19th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
[...] from ReadWriteWeb. And true nerds gotta love the deceptively named Bad Astronomy blog’s top 10 astronomy pictures from 2008. And astronomical news keeps coming from Facebook, which Inside Facebook reports is adding [...]
December 20th, 2008 at 12:36 am
[...] Pictures of the Year I love this feature of badastronomy. He basically gathers what he thinks is the top ten pictures for this year in [...]
December 20th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
[...] è segnalata da Discover fra le 10 migliori immagini astronomiche del 2008 (classifica con cui non sono del tutto [...]
December 24th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
[...] to the Discover Magazine blogs site, and true to form, Phil has done it again. Here you are: The Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008. [...]
December 24th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
[...] Phil Plait’s Top 10 Astronomy Pictures of 2008 ( The Bad Astronomer Rocks man, admit it! ) Phil Hart’s 10 Astounding Astrophotos (What’s up with the name Phil and Astronomy!?) Top 10 Amazing Animal Videos (Amazing! Check out the last Kruger Park Video, it’ll blow your mind!) [...]
December 27th, 2008 at 6:19 am
[...] features their picks for the Top Ten Astronomy Pictures o…. Truth be told, I found the set [...]
December 28th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
[...] Las mejores fotos de astronomía del 2008 según la revista Discover aquí. [...]
December 29th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
[...] Bad Astronomer recently published his favourite ten astronomy images for 2008. I noticed two really cool aspects to his [...]
December 29th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
[...] sky. I think it reminded me of the picture of the Phoenix lander that Phil Plait picked as his top picture of 2008. That’s the one that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped with the HIRISE camera while [...]
December 30th, 2008 at 12:42 am
[...] Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008 [...]
December 30th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
[...] Phil Plait har på sin blogg Bad Astronomy publicerat vad han anser vara årets tio bästa astronomibilder. Av de tio gillade jag framför allt de två nedan (klicka på bilderna för högupplöst version). [...]
December 31st, 2008 at 9:45 am
[...] – Finally. I hope to see the stars tonight at some point. I find space hypnotic and overwhelming in it’s sheer scale. It makes me feel so insignificant and yet simultaneously reminds me of the stand-out brilliance of human emotion, creativity, and scientific endeavour. Here are a few of the best pictures of space taken over the past year. [...]
January 1st, 2009 at 3:46 am
[...] Meest grappige foto’s van 2008. Spectaculaire foto’s van 2008. Celebrities. Wetenschap. Astronomie. Dieren. Oorlog. Sport. Top invloedrijkste Nederlanders van 2008. Het Witte Huis. Mijn [...]
January 1st, 2009 at 8:39 am
[...] revista electrónica Discover ha creado un listado con el Top 10 de las fotografías de astronomía, y la revista National Geographic hace aquí una recopilación de las también 10 mejores [...]
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:13 am
[...] by way of Phil Plait’s neat ‘Top Ten Astrononomy Photos of 2008‘ at DiscoverMagazine.com’s Bad Astronomy blog, is a NASA image from the Deep Impact [...]
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:50 am
[...] Phil Plait fez um Top 10 das melhores fotos astronómicas tiradas no ano que se concluiu. Vejam aqui. Para ele, as melhores foram: o avistamento na luz visível do primeiro planeta extrasolar, e a [...]
January 3rd, 2009 at 8:24 am
[...] ……1.5 Y para el que tenga más mono de astronauta aquí os paso el Top10 de fotos astronómicas del año. [...]
January 4th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
[...] Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008 | Bad Astronomy [...]
January 14th, 2009 at 3:40 am
[...] Chiudo. Le foto astronomiche più belle del 2008 secondo Discover [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 11:23 am
[...] Top 10 imágenes astronómicas del 2008 [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Welcome to The Drinking Bird
Don’t try and get too caught up in the meaning of the title of the blog. It’s as random as the expected content. I was wandering around the house trying to come up with a name and one of those goofy drinking bird toys from the 70’s that I have sit…
January 29th, 2009 at 7:51 am
[...] Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008: The Bad Astronomer highlights some of the most beautiful and interesting astronomy photos from 2008. [...]
June 7th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Fotografia Ślubna – Twoje wyjątkowe Zdjęcia Ślubne Śląsk Sosnowiec Katowice
dużo:
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:02 am
[...] You can also see some wonderful astronomy pictures from 2008, whether you want a collection of ten or [...]
August 12th, 2009 at 4:38 am
[...] bem conhecido Phil Plait fez um Top 10 das melhores fotos astronómicas tiradas em 2008. Para ele, as melhores foram: o avistamento na luz visível do primeiro planeta extrasolar, e a [...]
December 29th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
[...] Discover Magazine’s Top 10 Astronomy Pictures of 2008. [...]