Very Cool Astronomy-Related Photos

"Best 50 Astronomy Pictures of 2008"
Itv News (December 26, 2008)

"Astronomy is arguably the most beautiful of the sciences. I’m biased, of course, but it’s nearly impossible to gaze upon a picture of a galaxy, a moon, a nebula, and not see in it something compellingly artistic. Sometimes it’s the color, sometimes the shape, and sometimes it’s the knowledge that we can understand the subject of the picture itself...."

"Best 50 Astronomy Pictures of 2008?" They may be right. The photos are certainly very cool.

According to this article, Flagstaff, Arizona, is "the first International Dark Sky City, and maintains a lighting code that limits lights from polluting this majestic nighttime view...." Itv's illustration is this NASA photo:



NASA has a much larger (4,153 x 3,492 pixel) version at http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0804/flagstaffsky_usno_big.jpg.