An Eclectic Mind

Some truly amazing photos.

Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy has compiled his list of The Top Ten Astronomy Images of 2006. I stumbled onto his link at del.icio.us and it reminded me why I occasionally check out bookmarking sites. Every once in a while, there’s a real gem to be found there. This article is one of them.

In Phil’s introduction, he says:

The year’s end is a traditional time to look back and try to gain perspective on the events that occurred during this last circuit of the Sun. Astronomers have been hammering away at the sky, taking images that have profoundly pushed forward our understanding of the Universe. But there’s been more than that, too. They’ve slapped down some bad science — and deleting a negative is indeed a positive. They have also looked at old things in a new way, or new things in a new way, and even some new things in an old way.

With all this in mind, I decided to create my list of Best Astronomy Pictures of 2006. I went through hundreds of images (maybe thousands), checking NASA, APOD, the ESA, BAUT, and a few dozen amateur and professional sites featuring pictures as well. The criteria I kept in mind were beauty, of course, but also scientific value. But both of these could be trumped by the coolness factor. All three are subjective, but what the heck. It’s my blog. So here is what I came up with.

And what he came up with is an incredible collection of photographs that should amaze anyone interested in astronomy. I urge you to take a look at these and read his detailed, plain-English discussions of them. Not only will you be impressed by the technology available to photograph the heavens and our planetary neighbors, but you’ll learn quite a bit about astronomy and the subject of each photo.

My favorites: the Shuttle and International Space Station silhouetted against the sun and, of course, Saturn with the Earth in the background. Both must be seen to be believed.