The Top Ten Astronomy Photos of 2009

Today, my favorite astronomer, Phil Plait, has put up his ten favorite astronomy photos of 2009. He says that it is always hard narrowing it down to just ten photos, but I imagine that it was even harder this year. It was a pretty great year for astronomy. With all of the spacecraft out there taking photos of everything they see, it’s a wonder that Dr. Plait could narrow it down to only ten!

For each of the ten images, he explains what you are seeing, where the photo is from and sometimes some history surrounding the subject. He also links to original news stories showing the photos, and also, if applicable, his blog post about the photo.

Read the rest of his Bad Astronomy blog at Discover Magazine, and follow him on Twitter! Also, read my interview with him from last summer.