The field of Astronomy delivered a ton of amazing photos in 2009 and 2010 is shaping up to be even better, thanks to a fleet of new spacecraft and telescopes that will soon be revealing new wonders and mysteries. There is no one better to judge a top 10 than Phil Plait over at Bad Astronomy, a man who has been fighting the good fight against conspiracy theorists, anti-vaccine wackos and anti-evolution nut-cases.

His pick for #1 is excellent, as it shoves the long-standing We Never Went to the Moon conspiracy theory right into the face of gullible idiots. Why? It reveals the actual equipment Apollo astronauts left behind on the surface of the moon:

The great Carl Sagan, whose series Cosmos was a mammoth success and brought the concepts of astronomy into the homes of average Americans, has finally been given the auto-tune treatment.

The discovery of a rocky planet outside of our solar system may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s the first time such an object has been detected. While most astronomers instinctively knew such planets must exist in the universe, one must always have proof before an idea becomes fact. Such proof has emerged.

While it is highly doubtful the planet, called Corot-7b, can sustain life thanks to the blistering 3,600 degree Fahrenheit temperature, it does validate that rocky planets exist in the universe and, more importantly, exist in great numbers. With great numbers comes the ever-increasing odds that life is out there in great numbers.

Google News:

The planet is called Corot-7b. It was first discovered earlier this year. European scientists then watched it dozens of times to measure its density to prove that it is rocky like Earth. It’s in our general neighborhood, circling a star in the winter sky about 500 light-years away. Each light-year is about 6 trillion miles.

Four planets in our solar system are rocky: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

In addition, the planet is about as close to Earth in size as any other planet found outside our solar system. Its radius is only one-and-a-half times bigger than Earth’s and it has a mass about five times the Earth’s.

Now that another rocky planet has been found so close to its own star, it gives scientists more confidence that they’ll find more Earth-like planets farther away, where the conditions could be more favorable to life, Boss said.

“The evidence is becoming overwhelming that we live in a crowded universe,” Boss said.

Astronomers are scracthing their collective heads at the discovery of a gigantic blob that existed when the universe was only 800-million years old.

From Discovery News:

“The puzzle is — what is it?” said California Institute of Technology astronomer Richard Ellis, who wasn’t on the research team but praised the find. “Often a puzzle leads to a breakthrough. My nose tells me that this object is rather special.”

Ouchi and Ellis said one possibility is that by chance, astronomers captured the moment a galaxy was forming in the early universe — something that never has been seen before.

As astronomers gaze deeper into space, they are looking farther back in time. What Ouchi found was from 12.9 billion years ago. Only three other objects have been seen that are from deeper in time and space.

It’s pretty obvious this blob is the granddaddy of all B-movie blobs that attacked movie characters in the 1960s. The fact that it emits radiation is all the evidence you need.