Astronomy Pictures

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Astronomy

If the Internet has as many astronomy resources as there are stars in the sky, then think of this Web guide as your map to the best and brightest. Whether you are looking for planetary data, celestial gifts, or fellow star seekers, we'll help you navigate the heavenly sphere of astronomy-related sites and tools on the Web.

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Historical and Modern Astronomy

Astronomy is one of the oldest, most popular branches of science. Unlike practitioners of medicine ... read more »

Astronomy Pictures

Images from outer space are among the most popular scientific artifacts today, capturing the attention and imagination of people regardless of their interest in astronomy. With the launch of major space-based telescopes in the 1990s, humans are seeing farther and clearer into the universe than ever before, and our catalog of astronomy pictures has increased exponentially. Much of this collection can be found on the Web.

Dulcinea's Insight

The four major satellite telescopes––Hubble, Chandra, Compton, and Spitzer––"see" different electromagnetic wavelengths. The Hubble Telescope primarily measures visible light; if your eyes (or binoculars) were very powerful, they'd see what Hubble sees. The others capture images using x-ray, gamma ray, and infrared radiation.

Online art vendors like All Posters and Art.com have large selections of professional-grade astronomy prints that may be difficult to find elsewhere.

Widespread use of digital photography has made it much easier for amateur astronomers to snap and post their own pictures. Browsing their Web pages is a good way to find skyscapes and photography.

If you are looking for a specific image––for example, of the Eagle Nebula––do a search for it on Google Images.

Dulcinea's Picks

HubbleSite has an online gallery with pictures from the Hubble Telescope. It's a large, well-organized archive of the most breathtaking images humans have of outer space, with an emphasis on deep space objects (nebulae, quasars, galaxies, etc.). It includes a step-by-step tutorial to printing out your own pictures or wall mural.

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The Hubble Heritage Project brings together a beautiful, hand-chosen array of images from Hubble's massive catalogue. It has a smaller selection than HubbleSite, but the images are slightly better quality and include highly informative captions by experts.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is exactly what the name implies. Run by professional astronomers since 1995 and endorsed by NASA, the site posts a dazzling new picture every day with a brief explanatory blurb. The archive is massive but lacks categories (i.e., stars, planets), a functional search feature, and is cumbersome to navigate. If you want to browse it, your best bet is to follow the Calendar link on the bottom and go month by month. It's a good bookmark for a daily check-in.

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NASA Image eXchange (NIX) is a search engine that pulls images from NASA's affiliated Web sites. Browse subject categories or search for keywords. It's a much broader range than the Hubble and other astrophotography sites, which tend to overwhelmingly focus on deep space phenomena.

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