Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico helped establish the field of archaeoastronomy, and it remains the standard introduction to this subject. Combining basic astronomy with archaeological and ethnological data, it presented a readable and entertaining synthesis of all that was known of ancient astronomy in the western hemisphere as of 1980.

In this revised edition, Anthony Aveni draws on his own and others' discoveries of the past twenty years to bring the Skywatchers story up to the present. He offers new data and interpretations in many areas, including:
-- The study of Mesoamerican time and calendrical systems and their unprecedented continuity in contemporary Mesoamerican culture
-- The connections between Precolumbian religion, astrology, and scientific, quantitative astronomy
-- The relationship between Highland Mexico and the world of the Maya and the state of Pan-American scientific practices
-- The use of personal computer software for computing astronomical data

With this updated information, Skywatchers will serve a new generation of general and scholarly readers and will be useful in courses on archaeoastronomy, astronomy, history of astronomy, history of science, anthropology, archaeology, and world religions.

Winner of several teaching awards, including National Professor of the Year from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, Anthony F. Aveni is the Russell B. Colgate Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology at Colgate University in upstate New York.

Full Moon is a photographic journey to the Moon and back, drawn from NASA's 32,000 pictures from the Apollo missions. For the first time NASA has allowed 900 of the 'master' negatives and transparencies to be taken offsite for electronic scanning so as to produce the sharpest images of space that we have ever seen. From this selection of 'master' photographs Michael Light has distilled a single composite journey beginning with the launch, followed by a walk in space, an orbit of the Moon, a lunar landing and exploration and a return to Earth with an orbit and splash-down. Five enormous gatefold panoramas show the extraordinary lunar landscape.

These photographs reveal not only the hardware of lunar exploration in exquisite detail but also the profound aesthetics of space in what could be described as the ultimate landscape photography. The reader is encouraged to view these pictures as more than a spectacle. You start to experience them with a sense of the accompanying disorientation and excitement that the astronauts themselves would have felt. The Moon's surface and its extraordinary light are presented with awesome clarity. Full Moon was originally published in 1999 to mark the 30th anniversary of the first landing on the Moon. It was a milestone publication for the millennium, greeted with acclaim worldwide and published in eight countries.

This new compact edition preserves all the superb quality of reproduction which was so evident in the original and makes this extraordinary work available to a still wider audience.

National Aeronautics & Space Administration (Nasa) Background, Issues, Bibliography

The New York Times Reports on Astronomy and Cosmology

"A must for every armchair cosmic voyager."—Science News

The scientists seeking to unravel the mysteries of the universe are among the most imaginative and provocative explorers of our time. Like the geographic explorers of earlier centuries, they venture into uncharted spaces, come upon new worlds, expand the knowable, and challenge thinking about the place of humans in all things.

Collected here are the most exciting moments of recent astronomical explorations, presented by the award-winning science reporters of the New York Times. Recent leaps in technology have allowed astronomers to peer deeply into the universe and to bring into focus fascinating and unsuspected phenomena. Cosmic Dispatches conveys in thrilling detail the meaning and significance of what scientists have been learning about our universe. B/W photographs, diagrams.

Accompanying the BBC television series, this book contains essays ranging across the whole spectrum of astronomy, space exploration and astrophysics, and tracking the story of astronomical discovery in the 1990s. For Earthbound viewers, the appearance of the Hale-Bopp and Halley's comets, followed by solar and lunar eclipses, triggered a huge upsurge in popular interest. In the same decade the Hubble Space Telescope transmitted thousands of images from deep space, shedding new light on the structure and origins of the universe, and the robot lander on the surface of Mars relayed information about surface conditions on the red planet. The essays cover these events and more, and include discussions with leading astronomers.

In this text, science writer Barry Parker takes on one of the most fascinating and fantastical aspects of modern quantum theory - time travel. From the stuff of fiction to Einstein's theory of relativity and Hawking's view of the universe, time travel has captured modern man's excitement and been as much talked about as space travel.

"A highly readable survey of the historical prelude to the study of the origins of life, as well as selected areas of current research, including the search for extraterrestrial life."-NatureWhere did we come from? Did life arise on earth or on some other planet? What did the earliest primitive organisms look like? Untangling a century of contentious debate, the authors explore current theories of the source of life-from Martian meteors to hydrothermal vents-and then present their own elegant scenario: Life arose not in the subterranean depths, as many believe, but on Earth's tumultuous surface, where a primitive form of natural selection spawned the first genetic material, perhaps in the form of a proto-virus. Knowing exactly how life began on Earth will not only teach us more about ourselves, it will bring us closer to finding life elsewhere.

What are meteorites? Where do they come from? Are they a threat? What are they made of? How common are they? As centuries have passed, our knowledge of these extraterrestrial objects has advanced immensely, and today, the scientific study of meteorites provides a wealth of information about the solar system. Meteorites reveal clues to some of the greatest scientific enigmas:

• the origin of life on Earth
• the mass extinction of species
• the nature and composition of asteroids
• the conditions during the formation of the solar system
• the dust from stars that died long before our Sun formed.

Written by a team of experts, Meteorites is an accessible, comprehensive guide that features over two hundred full-color photographs, diagrams and graphs. Look no further for a wonderful introduction to these powerful, yet mystifying, objects. Brigitte Zanda is Associate Professor at the Mineralogy Laboratory of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, and Adjunct Member of the Graduate Faculty at Rutgers University. Following on from her PhD in Geochemistry, she has written many papers in Meteoritics and Planetary Science and other journals, and is a member of the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society. Monica Rotaru is Department Chief of Earth Sciences at the Palais de la découverte in Paris, where she organizes scientific exhibitions. After her PhD in geochemistry, she has conducted research in climatology and written television science documentaries.

Popular cosmologist Martin Rees of Cambridge University traces the essential features of the physical cosmos to six numbers imprinted in the Big Bang, and argues that if a single one were untuned, there would be no stars and no life.

Gateway to the Moon presents the definitive history of the origins, design, and construction of the lunar launch facilities at Kennedy Space Center, the terrestrial site of one of the greatest national adventures of the 20th century, humanity's first trip to the moon. It includes archival illustrations and diagrams of locations, personnel, and equipment, from aerial views of sandy, undeveloped Cape Canaveral to some of the first photos of the mobile launchers and crawler-transporters.

Filled with the sense of wonder and pride that the earliest U.S. space achievements inspired, the book focuses on launch complexes 39A and 39B, the gigantic assemblies from which the Apollo-Saturn vehicles departed for trips into space, and on the massive eight-acre Vertical Assembly Building (renamed the Vehicle Assembly Building) and the attached Launch Control Center -- some of the most awesome buildings ever constructed. It also analyzes the technological and governmental interactions necessary to ensure success of the launches.

Originally part of Moonport, a 1978 volume in the NASA History Series, the book is based on extensive interviews with wit participants in the space program and wide access to official documents, letters, and memoranda; in addition, the authors air criticisms directed at the Kennedy Space Center team and treat in detail mistakes in launch operations and conflicts within the program. Written for a general-interest audience, with jargon and acronyms translated into everyday language, the book offers a faithful account of technology in service to humanity.

Former NASA astrophysicist Jeanne Cavelos examines the scientific possibility of the fantastical world of Star Wars. She explains to non-technical readers how the course of science might soon intersect with such fantasies as interstellar travel, robots capable of thought and emotion, habitable alien planets, bizarre intelligent life forms, high-tech weapons and spacecraft, and advanced psychokinetic abilities. She makes complex physics concepts, like quantum mechanics, wormholes, and Einstein's theory of relativity both fascinating and easy to comprehend. The Science of Star Wars does for Star Wars what Lawrence Krauss's bestselling The Physics of Star Trek did for the Star Trek universe.

Cavelos answers questions like:

* How might spaceships like the Millennium Falcon make the exhilarating jump into hyperspace?

* Could a single blast from the Death Star destroy an entire planet?

* How close are we to creating robots that look and act like C-3PO and R2-D2?

* Could light sabers possibly be built, and if so, how would they work?

* Do Star Wars aliens look like "real" aliens might?

* What kind of environment could spawn a Wookie?

* What would living on a desert planet like Tatooine be like?

* Why does Darth Vader require an artificial respirator?

* Can we access a "force" with our minds to move objects and communicate telepathically with each other?

Donna Shirley's 35-year career as an aerospace engineer reached a jubilant pinnacle in July 1997 when Sojourner--the solar-powered, self-guided, microwave-oven-sized rover--was seen exploring the Martian landscape in Pathfinder's spectacular images from the surface of the red planet. The event marked a milestone in space, but for Donna Shirley, the leader of the mostly male team that designed and built Sojourner--and the first woman ever to manage a NASA program--it marked a triumph of another kind.

Managing Martians is Shirley's captivating memoir of a life and career spent reaching for the stars. From her seemingly outlandish aspiration at age ten to build aircraft, to abandoning high school Home Ec in favor of mechanical drawing, and, at sixteen, becoming a licensed pilot, Shirley defied expectations from the beginning. In a vivid narrative, rich with anecdotes and thrilling turning points, Shirley recounts the intense battles she waged to defend her vision and the ingenuity and resourcefulness of her committed team. Her moment-by-cliffhanging-moment account of Pathfinder's landing and Sojourner's first tentative foray across the sands of Mars brilliantly captures the fulfillment of a lifelong dream as it heralds a brave new era of space exploration.

Have you ever wondered what happened before the Big Bang, or how we would colonize Mars, or what an alien invasion might really be like? Astronomer Bob Berman has, and in Cosmic Adventure, a collection of twenty-six profound to outrageous essays, he takes readers on a mind-bending tour of the universe, including our own planet Earth. From the most extraordinary cosmic phenomena to the basics of the natural world, Berman challenges us to look at the facts, discoveries, concepts, and awesome wonders of our cosmos in a new light. Written in entertaining, jargon-free language that even a novice stargazer will understand, Cosmic Adventure is a fun-filled, thought-provoking exploration of the secrets beyond the night sky.

Cosmic Adventure explains aspects of the physical world that have often piqued our curiosity. Who gets to name the stars? What would an alien invasion really be like? What's the inside story behind space program disasters? Why was the early Hubble goof avoidable? What's the only original idea in recent science? Why does time probably not exist at all?

Enrich your next sea vacation with this fun how-to guide to observing and doing astrophotography on water. Collecting together the author's five decades of astrophotography and teaching experience, this book shares all the practical information you will need to start on your own astronomy adventure. Part I is full of practical advice on what to pack, the best ways to enjoy the night sky from your cruise ship observatory, specific astronomical objects and events to look out for, and myriad other useful tips. Part II gives you a crash course on astrophotography at sea, teaching you the nitty-gritty details of taking pictures of the night sky. Proof that it can be done is provided by the many amazing color astrophotographs taken by the author while following the steps laid out in this book.

It was all part of man's greatest adventure--landing men on the Moon and sending a rover to Mars, finally seeing the edge of the universe and the birth of stars, and launching planetary explorers across the solar system to Neptune and beyond.
        
The ancient dream of breaking gravity's hold and taking to space became a reality only because of the intense cold-war rivalry between the superpowers, with towering geniuses like Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolyov shelving dreams of space travel and instead developing rockets for ballistic missiles and space spectaculars. Now that Russian archives are open and thousands of formerly top-secret U.S. documents are declassified, an often startling new picture of the space age emerges:

the frantic effort by the Soviet Union to beat the United States to the Moon was doomed from the beginning by gross inefficiency and by infighting so treacherous that Winston Churchill likened it to "dogs fighting under a carpet";

there was more than science behind the United States' suggestion that satellites be launched during the International Geophysical Year, and in one crucial respect, Sputnik was a godsend to Washington;

the hundred-odd German V-2s that provided the vital start to the U.S. missile and space programs legally belonged to the Soviet Union and were spirited to the United States in a derring-do operation worthy of a spy thriller;

despite NASA's claim that it was a civilian agency, it had an intimate relationship with the military at the outset and still does--a distinction the Soviet Union never pretended to make;

constant efforts to portray astronauts and cosmonauts as "Boy Scouts" were often contradicted by reality;

the Apollo missions to the Moon may have been an unexcelled political triumph and feat of exploration, but they also created a headache for the space agency that lingers to this day.

        
This New Ocean is based on 175 interviews with Russian and American scientists and engineers; on archival documents, including formerly top-secret National Intelligence Estimates and spy satellite pictures; and on nearly three decades of reporting. The impressive result is this fascinating story--the first comprehensive account--of the space age. Here are the strategists and war planners; engineers and scientists; politicians and industrialists; astronauts and cosmonauts; science fiction writers and journalists; and plain, ordinary, unabashed dreamers who wanted to transcend gravity's shackles for the ultimate ride. The story is written from the perspective of a witness who was present at the beginning and who has seen the conclusion of the first space age and the start of the second.


From the Hardcover edition.

CD-ROM and Book. When the crew of Apollo 11 returned to earth in July 1969 they brought with them a wealth of new information about the moon. Now astronauts Charles (Pete) Conrad, Alan Bean and Richard Gordon would return to the moon and build on that knowledge. The real test for the crew of Apollo 12 was not to see if they could get to the moon, but to see if they could get to an exact place on the moon. Their target was in an area known as the Ocean of Storms. On 14 November 1969 the crew of Apollo 12 blasted off to their place in history. Not only would Conrad and Bean become the third and fourth men to walk on the moon but they would land the lunar module Intrepid within 600 feet of their designated target. Waiting for them was the unmanned space probe Surveyor 3 which had soft-landed in April 1967. The flight of Apollo 12, which began almost catastrophically when the huge Saturn V was struck by lightning just moments after lift off, went on to yield an enormous amount of valuable data collected during over seven and a half hours on the lunar surface. On their return home the crew of Apollo 12 became the first humans to witness an eclipse of the Sun by the Earth.

"Tony Aveni has written a marvelous book about how the celestial rhythms influenced the cultures of the past. . . . It makes fascinating reading for any layperson."—Science Books and Films

"Clearly, if we can know more about these people, their religion, their culture, their hopes and dreams, according to Dr. Aveni, it will make our understanding of their astronomy more meaningful."—Planetarian

"A thoughtful analysis . . . highly recommended."—Library Journal

What was the meaning of Stonehenge? What was the Mayan Code? Why was the elaborate Incan city of Cuzco built? Groundbreaking archaeoastronomer Anthony Aveni offers a host of startling new insights and conclusions in this acclaimed study of three of life's most mesmerizing mysteries.

This work is an account of one of the most thrilling topics in science - the search for life on Mars - and how it may ultimately lead us to the origins of life in the universe. Hidden beneath the sterile surface of Earth's neighbouring planet may be the keys to unlocking the origins of life in the universe. An expert on extreme-life environments, Malcolm Walter argues that the best place to find evidence of life on Mars is in the rocks and subsurface water of the Red Planet - out of reach of telescopes and space probes. In this book, Walter unveils his dramatic plan - already adopted by NASA - for finding these elusive traces of life.

PixInsight has taken the astro-imaging world by storm. As the first comprehensive postprocessing platform to be created by astro-imagers for astro-imagers, it has for many replaced other generic graphics editors as the software of choice. PixInsight has been embraced by professionals such as the James Webb (and Hubble) Space Telescope's science imager Joseph DePasquale and Calar Alto's Vicent Peris, as well as thousands of amateurs around the world. While PixInsight is extremely powerful, very little has been printed on the subject. The first edition of this book broke that mold, offering a comprehensive look into the software's capabilities. This second edition expands on the several new processes added to the PixInsight platform since that time, detailing and demonstrating each one with a now-expanded workflow. Addressing topics such as PhotometricColorCalibration, Large-Scale Pixel Rejection, LocalNormalization and a host of other functions, this text remains the authoritative guide to PixInsight.

The Night Sky is a moving novel about the solitary moral courage of a women raising a child alone and the complex resilience of family. Ivy Slovak is a jewelry designer and artist whose days are absorbed by the struggle to make an unreliable paycheck cover the needs of her infant son. Hungry for the freedom of the world outside her window, Ivy is haunted by the memory of her mother, who abandoned her when she was seven years old. She recalls the years spent with her loving but itinerant father, wandering the desert, hoping somehow to find the troubled, beautiful woman who had left them both. With quiet eloquence and deep compassion, The Night Sky establishes Morris as one of contemporary American literature's foremost chroniclers of the secrets and strengths of the human spirit.

How do we know that the earth travels around the sun, the universe is billions of years old, and stars are trillions of miles away? The author tells the story of the people and ideas that have brought us such knowledge of our planet and the universe, giving realistic portraits of astronomers like Tycho, Kepler, Galileo, Herschel and Hubble. Beginning in 1572 with Tycho's discovery that the heavens can change and ending with the Big Bang of the 20th century, this is an account of the quest to discover the universe.

Rain of Iron and Ice shows us the unmistakable evidence--from spaceprobe flybys of the planets to the scars on our own Earth--of cataclysmic comet and asteroid impacts. By comparing what we know about the earth's geology and paleontology with the ages of the other planets and moons in our solar system, Lewis makes the strongest case yet for sudden, dramatic extinctions and assesses the risks to planet Earth.

Comet begins with a breathtaking journey through space astride a comet. Pulitzer Prize-winning astronomer Carl Sagan, author of Cosmos and Contact, and writer Ann Druyan explore the origin, nature, and future of comets, and the exotic myths and portents attached to them. The authors show how comets have spurred some of the great discoveries in the history of science and raise intriguing questions about these brilliant visitors from the interstellar dark.

How well do you know our closest neighbour? Featured on BBC Radio 4 Saturday Live and BBC Breakfast The moon has fascinated humankind since the beginning of history. But far from being just a big rock out in space, the Moon has a phenomenal power over the earth, with its ability to create great waves, dictate the length of the day and summon the seasons. It is a key player in the story of our planet. In this unique celebration of the Moon, lunar expert and space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin Pocock takes readers on a journey through the Moon's past, present and future. She uncovers the way the Moon has captured our imaginations, contemplates how it was formed, and uncovers why we need the Moon to protect our fragile earth. Drawing on the latest scientific research, she then looks forward to what might be to come - will we return to the moon or will it become a launch pad to go into the great unknown? Filled with fascinating facts and anecdotes, and written with warmth and passion, The Book of the Moon is for scientists and stargazers alike. You'll never look at our closest neighbour in the same way again.

From blue moons to Betelgeuse, it's all in this witty, fact-packed, profusely illustrated guide to the heavens by the author of Discover magazine's popular "Night Watchman" column.