Astronomy A visual guide

Freelance writer and illustrator Garlick, an astrophysicist, has produced an attractive, large-scale book that covers the universe in an order that should appeal to the general reader. He supplements a multitude of colorful images from various ground-based telescopes and space missions with his own diagrams and drawings that are helpful in illustrating physical principles. A brief history of astronomy leads to a survey of observatories (heavy on space missions) before the universe's contents are revealed. Except for the solar system, no topic is covered in depth. (The icon for orbit statistics misleadingly illustrates planetary orbits as highly elliptical, but this is one of the few minor flaws.) After skimming over the remaining objects in the universe (e.g., stars and galaxies), it offers sections on small star maps, choosing binoculars/telescopes, and backyard observing. Garlick briefly hits the current hot topics (wormholes, dark matter, big bang) before providing an interesting set of facts on many astronomical objects and events. This is a volume with high visual impact and clear, although brief, explanations. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers. M.-K. Hemenway University of Texas at Austin

Astronomy0 is custom designed to inspire stargazing. Twenty-four sky maps are offered for just such an eventuality. Otherwise, astrophysicist Garlick organizes the universe in a conventional but still beautiful manner, proceeding from the solar system outward to the multibillion-light-year depths probed by the Hubble Space Telescope. Its images are not the only space-age source Garlick taps: pictures from less celebrated observatories also populate the presentations of planets, stars, galaxies, and quasars. More than a glossy gallery, the celestial objects Garlick features are embedded within his framing explanations of the electromagnetic spectrum and big-bang cosmology. --Gilbert Taylor Copyright 2004 Booklist

Introduction Astronomy has fascinated us as far back in our history as we care to explore. At first, the interest stemmed from religious beliefs. The stars, and planets were considered deities -- indeed, this is true even today. Later, as we learned to domesticate animals and grow crops, the sky served as a celestial agricultural calendar, its constant motions reminding us when to sow and reap. Today, our interest in astronomy is no less profound, and some might argue it is even more deep-rooted, perhaps because we know so much more about it. Or perhaps it's the human desire to explore, and to understand that which we currently do not. Whatever the reason, astronomy is a subject of research at universities across the globe. The more time our scientists spend peering into the depths of space, the greater the wonders -- and mysteries -- they uncover. Exploding stars called supernovae shine, just briefly, with the power of hundreds of billions of our Sun. They produce superdense neutron stars, shiny balls of matter the size of a city, and yet containing the mass of an entire planetary system, spinning hundreds of times every second. Enigmatic black holes twist time and space and suck in light. At the edge of the known Universe, quasars spew jets of charged particles millions of light-years into space. And then there is the material we cannot see but which we know must exist -- dark matter and the newly discovered, bizarre and poorly understood dark energy. Join us on a cosmic journey in which we will meet all of these marvels and many more, in stunning words and pictures. Excerpted from Astronomy: A Visual Guide by Mark A. Garlick All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.