Close Encounters: Exploring the Universe With the Hubble Space Telescope [Library Binding]

Elaine Scott (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up

Describes what scientists have been able to deduce about the nature of our solar system and the universe based on data collected by the Hubble telescope.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8AScott follows up her Adventure in Space: The Flight to Fix the Hubble (Hyperion, 1995) with this equally outstanding explanation of why the effort to repair the orbiting telescope's faulty components was worthwhile. She opens with a telling pair of before-and-after photographs: the first a blur that looks like a fried green egg, the second a sharply focused, dramatically swirling spiral galaxy. After a summary history of astronomy and telescopes, the author goes on to describe the value of this new clarity; scientists can now observe phenomena as close in time and space as local weather on Mars, or as distant as the birth of solar systems, the deaths of stars, and the mysteries of black holes. Artists' renditions and archival portraits of scientists involved with the space telescope enhance the many vividly reproduced full-color photos of deep space. In her matching text, Scott is specific about both how the different instruments on Hubble are used, and what they tell us. Some pages of text are printed on grayed-out star fields, not the best choice for legibility, but that's a minor bobble in this meaty, cogent report.AJohn Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 4^-7. With stunning photos and clear text, Scott demonstrates the importance of the information provided by the repaired Hubble Space Telescope in this companion to Adventure in Space: The Flight to Fix the Hubble (1995). Following a brief history of astronomy and the development of the telescope, the author describes how the Hubble helps scientists explain the formation of planets, the birth and death of stars, and the existence of black holes. Scott's comparisons and examples make highly complex information easier to understand. Although the captions are awkwardly separated from their illustrations, the photographs themselves are striking, plentiful, and appealing. Karen Hutt --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Library Binding: 64 pages
• Publisher: Disney Pr (Lib) (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786821205
• ISBN-13: 978-0786821204
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,797,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elaine Scott was born in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, the middle child of three born to her father, George J. Watts, Jr., a banker and his wife, Ethel, a homemaker. Her father's career took the family to Texas in 1952 and there, with the exception of a brief stint in Nigeria, Elaine Scott has remained. Her books have appeared on numerous "Best Books" lists and have won various awards including the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award for Close Encounters With the Universe,and the Texas State Reading Association Literature Award for Young Children for When is a Planet Not a Planet? Her newest book, Space, Stars, and the Beginning of Time, will be published in January, 2011. She is now at work on Buried Alive! The Story of the Chilean Miners, to be published by Clarion in 2012.

Elaine and her husband, Parker, make their home in Houston, Texas. When she isn't busy writing (which is rarely) she enjoys reading (of course,)teaching adults, visiting schools, and traveling with her husband, Parker--especially to Kauai, Hawaii,--or to Dallas to visit with their daughters, Cindy and Susan and the most outstanding grandchild in the world, Jackson Scott Beasley.