Cosmos [Hardcover]

Giles Sparrow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2006 | ISBN-10: 1905204299 | ISBN-13: 978-1905204298 | Edition: First edition.

The largest ever (42 cm x 35 cm) fully illustrated guide to the universe from our home planet to the edge of space and time. Our view of the universe covers at least 130 billion trillion kilometers (80 billion trillion miles) in every direction around us. We know that the magnificent vault of stars emblazoning Earth's night skies are an infinitesimal fraction of the hundreds of billions that inhabit our galaxy, and we know there are at least as many galaxies in the universe as there are stars in the Milky Way. "Cosmos" makes sense of this dizzying celestial panorama by exploring it one step at a time and by illustrating the planets, moons, stars, nebulae, white dwarfs, black holes and other exotica that populate the heavens with over 450 of the most spectacular and up-to-date photographs and illustrations. We begin at home, with an orbital survey of planet Earth, before venturing deeper into the solar system via the Moon, Venus, Mercury, the Sun and Mars. Crossing the asteroid belt takes us into the outer solar system and the realm of the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Beyond Neptune's orbit we encounter a graveyard of icy debris left over from the solar system's formation that marks the outer limits of the Sun's sphere of influence. Emerging in interstellar space, we head for the heart of our galaxy as the rhythms of stellar life unfold before our eyes: we pass through dark clouds of dust and gas ablaze with clusters of newly smelted stars, we watch dying stars bloom and fade as planetary nebulae, or tear themselves apart as supernovae. Navigating through thick swarms of stars, we reach the galactic core, a gravitational maelstrom of exotic stars in the thrall of a supermassive black hole. Having crossed the Milky Way, we enter intergalactic space. Out here we watch the hidden lives of galaxies: we see them tear their companions apart or devour them whole, we see them flock and cluster, forming massive conglomerations that span millions of light years and warp space with their tremendous gravity. As we press ever deeper into the cosmos, so we travel further back in time. After covering an almost unimaginable 13.4 billion light years, we approach the edge of space and the dawn of time where our voyage must end, but not before we consider how our universe was born, and how it might die.

Editorial Reviews

Review

images of staggering beauty with jaw dropping photographs - Sunday Express --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Giles Sparrow studied Astronomy at University College London, and Science Communication at Imperial College. He has acted as consultant and contributor on numerous popular science books, and is the author of, amongst others, The Universe and How To See It (Reader's Digest, 2001). He was recently a major contributor to Universe (Dorling Kindersley, 2005).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Booksales; First edition. edition (August 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1905204299
• ISBN-13: 978-1905204298
• Product Dimensions: 16.9 x 14.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #291,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Journey, January 8, 2007

By 

Aaron Kinney "MustangGT" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cosmos (Hardcover)

Giles Sparrow's 'Cosmos' is a fantastic journey through space. From the innermost objects in our solar system, to the outermost limits of known space, and everything in between, Sparrow brings us in depth descriptions and amazing pictures of our universe.

This is the best book about space and astronomy that Ive ever purchased. This book is a perfect introduction to the universe for beginners, yet provides fascinating information and pictures even for veteran and professional astronomers.

The book is huge physically, which is appropriate considering the contents inside it. And at the price its going now, it is a huge value. Highly recommended.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Big Beautiful Astronomy Pictures, January 11, 2007

By 

Gordon R. Vaughan "Aerospace Engineer/Researc... (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cosmos (Hardcover)

From a review of the best beautiful astronomy & space books, on my Xanga blog AeroGo (see profile for info):

"[A] quite impressive book from the UK is Giles Sparrow's Cosmos: A Field Guide, a very large hardback. Besides the many large illustrations of various sorts, such as the Himalayas from space, a scale of Saturn's rings and moons, and many beautiful planetary nebulae, Cosmos has the best depiction I've seen of the universe as a whole. This is done (pp. 204-5) with a fascinating series of depictions of our own galactic cluster and how it fits into larger clusters and superclusters.

The creators of Cosmos are also to be commended for their good taste in putting one of my favorites, the Sombrero Galaxy, on the cover. In all, this book is an outstanding coffee table book, and about big enough to be a coffee table!"

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book on the Universe!!!, January 11, 2007

By 

Cosmicdust73 "Jason Simrany" (North Haledon, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cosmos (Hardcover)

I recently purchased this book and I must say, I am very impressed! The book is quite simply large, physically. I mean it's huge! It could very well be the largest book I've ever read. It really adds to the incredible scale of the subject matter. As far as pictures and photographs go, this book contains, by far, the most impressive array of cosmic photography I have ever seen. Not just in quantity but in quality. All of the photos are perfectly clear and as large as the book itself. At $30, this is honestly a steal! A must own!