The most beautiful visions of the cosmos come to us every day from observatories around the world and out in space. For my book Visions of the Cosmos (co-authored with my good friend John Brandt) — I pored over thousands of images produced by professional and amateur observatories. It was tough to choose among all those glorious visions of the cosmos!

This space images gallery features some of my favorites, divided into sub-galleries of Deep-Space Objects, Stars, and Solar System Objects. Of course, defining "favorite" is a movable target: as soon as I decide I really like one image, another one comes in from Hubble or the Mars Global Surveyor or European Southern Observatory or an avid amateur! That's the great part about astronomy — it's kind of a movable feast for the eyes! Each image on these gallery pages comes with a little "backgrounder" to give you an idea about why astronomers find these celestial objects so interesting.

Distant Reaches of the Cosmos

This gallery contains beautiful images of objects far distant from us in space and time.

GALLERY ONE
Looking Deep Into Space

The Starry Reaches of the Cosmos

This gallery takes you to see stars at many stages of their lives — from stellar nurseries to starry graveyards.

GALLERY TWO
Looking At the Stars

Exploring the Solar System

This gallery brings us unique views of our own cosmic neighborhood — the planets, moons, rings, asteroids, and comets of the solar system.

GALLERY THREE
Explore the Solar System

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