The Top 14 Astronomy Pictures of 2010

The final pic of the Orion Constellation is stunning. But there seems to be so much gas (the colored stuff) covering the constellation. The third star in the middle is almost lost, you have to look at the pic magnified to catch it.

The spectacular Horsehead Nebula is almost lost in there due to the scale. The Orion Nebula: having a hard time locating it due to all the gases covering the pic.

I know that HN isn't big on pretty photos.. But these are really pretty - and I certainly learnt from the descriptions (THe asteroid collision and the 3 trillion kilometre collapsing red giant).

Does anyone know what type of gear you need to take a photo of the sun like that? I can't imagine it's good for the sensors of my SLR.