Description:

Our Dark Skies has been a successful online amateur astronomy community since 2004, and its members compiled a collection of favorite astrophotos in this annual publication. "2005 - A Year In Pictures" showcases many of the delights that the night sky has to offer. See time-lapse photography of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn as these planets approached Earth. Take in the vibrant colors of many nebulae, including the Bubble and Dumbbell. Get close-up looks at the magnificent Pleiades star cluster and the colorful Butterfly Cluster. Also captured here are detailed exposures of distant galaxies, highlighted by a bundle called Markarian's Chain. Also see a selection of photographs of large telescopes located at major observatories in Arizona which contributed to some of the most important discoveries about the cosmos. Each picture in this book was taken by a member of the Our Dark Skies community, and the members have had work appear in many major publications and NASA's "Astronomy Picture of the Day" website.