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The Years Most Beautiful, Stunning, Breathtaking Images of the Universe

By Phil Plait | Posted Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, at 7:35 AM ET | Posted Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, at 7:35 AM ET

Slate.com

The Best Astronomy Images of 2012 I couldnt pick just 10you have to see all 21 of these mind-bending shots. The Universe is beautiful. Which is interesting. It doesnt have to be; it could be all colorless and weird and lumpy. Instead, its bursting with color, sculpted by vast forces, molded into fantastic shapes that please our eyes and delight our brainsespecially once we understand what were seeing. Every December I pick my favorite images from the previous year to display, a task that is extraordinarily difficult. I always wind up with a list of about 60 or 70, and I have to cull it down mercilessly. Such is the case this year again, and I could pare it only to 21, a score and more of gorgeousness for you to soak in. I choose the pictures not just for their beauty but also because they are interesting, and differentones that stand out from the crowd somehow. I usually put them in order with my favorite one last, but this year I just cant. Ill let you know my favorite when you get to itI expect youll agreebut other than that its just a dead tie. Many of these, you might expect, are from Hubble, but other telescopes get their share, as well as some that were taken by amateur astronomers with not much more than good cameras and a desire to see and capture the Universe. I cant argue with that sentiment. So here they are; enjoy. The Suns Arch Rival On Aug. 31, 2012, the Sun had a major hissy fit: A vast arch of material was lifted up off the surface by the Suns powerful magnetic field. Sometimes these arches collapse back down, but this one erupted, blasting literally hundreds of millions of tons of superheated plasma into space at a speed of 1,400 kilometers per second (900 miles per second)over a thousand times faster than a rifle bullet. The scale of this is crushingthe arch was 300,000 kilometers (200,000) miles) across, 25 times larger than the Earth. As we near the peak of the Suns magnetic cycle, well be seeing even more activity like this in the coming months.

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saturn_vortex

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Cosmic dust clouds in Messier 78

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The Hubble eXtreme Deep Field

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The Pencil Nebula, a strangely shaped leftover from a vast explosion

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cometlovejoy

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The Carina Nebula imaged by the VLT Survey

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Telescope

Hubble's panoramic view of a star-forming region

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Curious spiral spotted by ALMA around red giant star R Sculptoris (data visualisation)

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Red giant blows a bubble

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