This stunningly illustrated visual guide to the heavens deserves a place on every amateur astronomer's bookshelf. It features both sky maps and dramatic photos of all major constellations, from Andromeda to Virgo. It also provides a stargazer's excursion across the solar system, focusing on planets, asteroids, meteors, and comets. Exploring further into deep space, it presents breathtaking photos—many of them taken from NASA's famous Hubble telescope—of colliding galaxies, supernovas, and spirograph nebulae. The author advises beginners on nighttime sky-watching, whether they make their observations with the naked eye, with binoculars, or with a telescope. He also discusses unmanned space exploration, provides star maps for each month of the year, and explains such phenomena as the Big Bang and black holes. The Stargazer's Guide to the Universe is printed throughout in full color and features more than 250 photos and illustrations.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
[back cover]
This extraordinary book is a complete visual guide to the heavens. From Andromeda to Virgo, every constellation is examined and explained, with breathtaking photographs from orbiting astronomical observatories and deep-space telescopes—most notably NASA’s famous Hubble telescope.
A gazer’s guide to the solar system examines planets, asteroids, meteors, and comets. The main part of the book is devoted to mapping the stars. Stunning images of colliding galaxies, supernovas, and spirograph nebulae represent a cosmic light show that will amaze even the seasoned stargazer.
Each key constellation features a map that places it in context within the universe and shows its position in relation to other celestial bodies. Diagrams explaining the leading clusters and prominent stars allow readers to interpret the beautiful large-scale photographs.
Information on the visibility of each constellation is included with every entry, and a separate star schedule enables stargazers to plan their stargazing with ease no matter where they are in the world.
[front flap]
This visual guide to the cosmos is for anyone who wants to know more about the Universe and how we explore it. It deals with stars, galaxies, and solar systems, and examines and explains every constellation. Other phenomena such as black holes, comets, meteors, and asteroids are also explained. The many different ways to observe the heavens are discussed—the naked eye, telescopes, observatories, spacecraft, and even astronomical imaging. A ready-reference section shows star maps for each month of the year, as well as maps of the celestial sphere and the constellations visible at different times of the year, with the images in the book keyed to them for cross-referencing.
[back flap]
Robin Kerrod, a Fellow of Britain’s Royal Astronomical Society, writes extensively on astronomy and space, and travels the world to visit observatories and space centers. Among his previous books are Book of Constellations and The Sky at Night, both published in North America by Barron’s.
This extraordinary book is a complete visual guide to the heavens. From Andromeda to Virgo, every constellation is examined and explained, with breathtaking photographs from orbiting astronomical observatories and deep-space telescopes—most notably NASA’s famous Hubble telescope.
A gazer’s guide to the solar system examines planets, asteroids, meteors, and comets. The main part of the book is devoted to mapping the stars. Stunning images of colliding galaxies, supernovas, and spirograph nebulae represent a cosmic light show that will amaze even the seasoned stargazer.
Each key constellation features a map that places it in context within the universe and shows its position in relation to other celestial bodies. Diagrams explaining the leading clusters and prominent stars allow readers to interpret the beautiful large-scale photographs.
Information on the visibility of each constellation is included with every entry, and a separate star schedule enables stargazers to plan their stargazing with ease no matter where they are in the world.
[front flap]
This visual guide to the cosmos is for anyone who wants to know more about the Universe and how we explore it. It deals with stars, galaxies, and solar systems, and examines and explains every constellation. Other phenomena such as black holes, comets, meteors, and asteroids are also explained. The many different ways to observe the heavens are discussed—the naked eye, telescopes, observatories, spacecraft, and even astronomical imaging. A ready-reference section shows star maps for each month of the year, as well as maps of the celestial sphere and the constellations visible at different times of the year, with the images in the book keyed to them for cross-referencing.
[back flap]
Robin Kerrod, a Fellow of Britain’s Royal Astronomical Society, writes extensively on astronomy and space, and travels the world to visit observatories and space centers. Among his previous books are Book of Constellations and The Sky at Night, both published in North America by Barron’s.
About the Author
Robin Kerrod, a Fellow of Britain's Royal Astronomical Society, writes extensively on astronomy and space, and travels the world to visit observatories and space centers. Among his previous books are Book of Constellations and The Sky at Night, both published in North America by Barron's.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Images that would have been impossible to get before.,
By
This review is from: The Stargazer's Guide to the Universe: A Complete Visual Guide to Interpreting the Cosmos (Hardcover)
Although most serious astronomers don't look at images through their telescopes (they have instruments like spectroscopes analyzing the light that's coming in) the images that have been produced in the last few years have been truly outstanding. For the first time mankind has sent spacecraft to objects in our solar system. We have rocks back from the moon, we have close up images of planets and moons, we have Spirit and Opportunity roving around on Mars. And we have the Hubble Space Telescope sending back astounding photographs.
The result is this book, filled with images and information that just a short time ago simply wasn't available. The images that are reproduced here are simply spactactular. The book starts with the biggest objects: galaxies and star clusters. Then it moves down to our own Milky Way Galaxy, and then to our own solar system. This is a coffee table picture book, but with some truly out of this world images.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pompous title, down-to-earth text,
By
This review is from: The Stargazer's Guide to the Universe: A Complete Visual Guide to Interpreting the Cosmos (Hardcover)
The rather pompous title disguises a good beginner's guide to astronomy. The first two chapters provide a brief overview of our current understanding of astronomy, followed by a discussion of the instruments we now use to do astronomy, from Hubble to radio telescopes to space probes. After that comes the meat of the book, three chapters dividing the universe into our galaxy, outside our galaxy, and the solar system. Each chapter provides an overview followed by a host of examples. The examples are my favorite part of the book: each is a two-page spread, with a big beautiful photo on one side and an explanation on the other. The explanation consists not only of a brief text but a sky map showing the exact location of the object in the photo as well as a smaller, annotated version of the photo pointing out notable elements that appear in the image, whether it be craters or interstellar clouds of a particular composition or a ten-billion-year-old supernova. (I could have used some of that in my astronomy classes.)
The text is not terribly sophisticated, and I found myself skimming through it to get to the photo section. I also have one quibble and two errors. The quibble is that there's no mention of false-color imagery, even though I think a number of the photos are in false color - oxygen clouds are not automatically green. The errors are in the chapter on instruments. In one place it says the radio telescope at Arecibo is built into the top of a mountain. It's not, of course, it's built into the bottom of a (radio-dish-shaped) valley. It also states that the Very Large Telescope at Paranal, with its four 8.2 meter telescopes, has the light-gathering power of a mirror 200 meters across. Even with some additional smaller telescopes, that's unlikely: it would take another 590 8.2m telescopes to make that true. I assume he means the resolving power. However, those are minor points in a beautiful and informative book. I got this at the library but would seriously consider getting my own copy, for both the beautiful photographs and the helpful explanations thereof.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spectacular Universe,
By Amateur Scientist (Pennsylvania PA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Stargazer's Guide to the Universe: A Complete Visual Guide to Interpreting the Cosmos (Hardcover)
Incredible photos of the universe from Hubble and other large telescopes. Makes you consider how insignificant we are in the scheme of things on the one hand and the size of our magnificent universe which we inhabit on the other. This book contains some of the most incredible astronomical photographs ever published anywhere in my opinion.
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