Product Description

The magnificent vault of stars emblazoning Earth's night skies are but an infinitesimal fraction of the hundreds of billions that inhabit our galaxy - and 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, illustrating the planets, moons, stars, nebulae, white dwarfs, black holes and other exotica that populate the heavens with some of science's most spectacular photographs. The book opens with an orbital survey of planet Earth, before venturing into the solar system heading for interstellar space and the heart of our galaxy. As the journey unfolds, the rhythms of stellar life emerge: we pass through dark clouds of dust and gas ablaze with newly smelted stars and we witness dying stars bloom and fade as planetary nebulae, or tear themselves apart as supernovae. Having crossed the Milky Way, we enter intergalactic space. Out here we watch the hidden lives of galaxies: we see them flock and cluster, forming massive conglomerations that span millions of light years, visibly warping space with their tremendous gravity. 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 the universe was born, and how it might die.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8275 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Review
images of staggering beauty with jaw dropping photographs - Sunday Express

From the Inside Flap
A few hundred years ago we believed the universe was bound by a
crystal sphere speckled with fixed stars. Less than a century ago, we
believed the Milky Way to be its entire extent. Now we know it stretches at
least 130 billion trillion kilometres (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 also know there are at
least as many galaxies in the universe as there are stars in the Milky Way.
We know our galaxy is a member of a cluster of galaxies, that is itself an
outlying member of a supercluster 100 million light years across, which is
but part of a filament that stretches a billion light years across space.
Cosmos: A Field Guide 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.

From the Back Cover
The ultimate guide to the universe from our home planet to the
edge of space and time.

No bigger subject, no bigger book.

Customer Reviews

Stunning visuals
I have more "coffee table" books on Astronomy than I do surface area on my coffee tables. This book makes it so I could get rid of all the rest as it is not only more complete but more beautiful than the rest combined.

There are some errors in it that make absolutely no sense why they were made (spelling and the Venusian orbit issue listed above). However... the science is solid and more importantly for a book like this, the images are unmatched in print.

Just like any book of this type, fingerprints on the pages are inevitable and annoying against a black background, but I wouldn't trade for white backgrounds because these images need the black to really show their visual range.

The information is also very current. Pluto is not considered a planet, the idea of neutrinos contributing to Dark Matter, and a host of other relatively recent developments are included. The progression is also very clean and straight forward starting at earth and progressing out to the large scale of the universe, which is something most of these books don't spend enough time on despite it being one of the most fascinating developments in cosmology recently.

If you want to learn the science, this isn't quite the book you're looking for. It's awkward to hold for long reading sessions due to the size, and not exceptionally in depth. However, the images can't be beat (not until Hubble's replacement goes live in a few years) and the science is comprehensive enough to let you know what you are looking at.

A simply stunning book
This is a seriously beautiful book - probably the largest astronomy book I've ever seen, and the reproduction on the images is simply brilliant - I'm amazed at the level of detail in some of them (especially double-page stunners such as the Orion and Helix nebulae. The design is stylish without being overfussy, and as the previous reviewer said, it benefits immensely from being printed on black.

The text also seems well-written and informative (okay there's a handful of typos that I've noticed, but it all seems factually accurate and up to date, which is ultimately more important). And the diagrams look beautiful, for the most part - I must say that I looked straight through the Venus orbit error at first glance and had to go back and check when I saw it pointed out here. Bit of a "D'oh!" moment, definitely, and I'm sure those responsible are kicking themselves, but it's such an obvious howler that it can't possibly have been intentional. It would be good if they get that sorted out for a reprint, but you only get to rate these things once, and I'm not going to let it ruin my enjoyment of an otherwise beautiful book!

The most spectacular astronomy photo book currently available
I have the Dorling Kindersley book "Universe" and thought that was pretty stunning and difficult to beat, but then I read a review of this book on one of the astronomy forums and had a look on Amazon. Having read the reviews below I was assured this would be worth the purchase. The reviews did not lie!! This is quite simply the best photographic astronomy book out there at the moment. If you just want one book to inspire people and make them gawp at the awesomeness of what lies beyond our atmosphere this is surely it. The only problem I have now is finding shelf space for it!