Have you ever found yourself looking up at the starry night, wondering and wanting to know more?

Congratulations! You're a stargazer.

Unlike its more scientific sister astronomy, stargazing requires no equipment--except perhaps something comfortable to sit on and a star map. The Stargazer's Guide provides these maps and shows you what there is to see in the sky, why it's interesting, and how previous generations viewed and interpreted it. Organized by month, The Stargazer's Guide takes you through the night sky's stories--mythological, historical, and scientific--offering simple diagrams that enable you to easily identify the constellations. Let expert stargazer Emily Winterburn enthrall you with true stories of romantic and scientific endeavors, and mythic tales of beasts and battles that led to the naming of the stars. With this enchanting, accessible, and fun guide to the heavens, you'll discover and revel in the beauty and wonder of the night sky.

Imagine if The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were a real, practical book about the mysteries of the universe . . . The Universe in Your Hand takes us on a wonder-filled journey to the surface of our dying sun, shrinks us to the size of an atom and puts us in the deathly grip of distant black holes. Along the way you might come to understand, really understand, the mind-bending science that underpins modern life, from quantum mechanics to Einstein's theory of general relativity. Through brilliant storytelling and humour rather than graphs and equations, internationally renowned astrophysicist Christophe Galfard has written an instant classic that brings the astonishing beauty of the universe to life - and takes us deep into questions about the beginning of time and the future of humanity.

Non sono necessariamente richiesti strumenti mastodontici per produrre risultati scientificamente validi nel campo dell'astronomia. Anche l'astrofilo dotato di un piccolo telescopio, con un diametro di soli 8-9 cm, puo contribuire alla scienza del cielo realizzando utili osservazioni del Sole, della Luna, dei pianeti, delle comete, degli asteroidi, delle stelle doppie o variabili, delle nebulose e degli ammassi stellari.

Il manuale di M.K. Gainer spiega quale sia la dotazione minima (un piccolo telescopio, un computer, una semplice fotocamera digitale), come utilizzarla, e quali siano le tecniche appropriate da adottare nelle osservazioni. Offre inoltre schemi per interpretare e ridurre i dati raccolti, nonche schede da compilare e da spedire ai centri di raccolta internazionali.

Questo libro e il passaporto grazie al quale l'astrofilo puo entrare a pieno titolo nel mondo affascinante della scienza astronomica.

Nicolaus Copernicus gave the world perhaps the most important scientific insight of the modern age, the theory that the earth and the other planets revolve around the sun. He was also the first to proclaim that the earth rotates on its axis once every twenty-four hours. His theory was truly radical: during his lifetime nearly everyone believed that a perfectly still earth rested in the middle of the cosmos, where all the heavenly bodies revolved around it.

One of the transcendent geniuses of the early Renaissance, Copernicus was also a flawed and conflicted person. A cleric who lived during the tumultuous years of the early Reformation, he may have been sympathetic to the teachings of the Lutherans. Although he had taken a vow of celibacy, he kept at least one mistress. Supremely confident intellectually, he hesitated to disseminate his work among other scholars. It fact, he kept his astronomical work a secret, revealing it to only a few intimates, and the manuscript containing his revolutionary theory, which he refined for at least twenty years, remained "hidden among my things."

It is unlikely that Copernicus' masterwork would ever have been published if not for a young mathematics professor named Georg Joachim Rheticus. He had heard of Copernicus' ideas, and with his imagination on fire he journeyed hundreds of miles to a land where, as a Lutheran, he was forbidden to travel. Rheticus' meeting with Copernicus in a small cathedral town in northern Poland proved to be one of the most important encounters in history.

"Copernicus' Secret" recreates the life and world of the scientific genius whose work revolutionized astronomy and altered our understanding of our place in the world. It tells the surprising, little-known story behind the dawn of the scientific age.

Featured in New Scientist's Best Books of 2021 'Filled with wonderment and awe ... Greene's eloquent memoir is equal parts escape and comfort.' Publishers Weekly A powerful reflection on life in isolation, in pursuit of the dream of Mars. In 2013 Kate Greene moved to Mars. On NASA's first HI-SEAS simulated Mars mission in Hawaii, she lived for four months in an isolated geodesic dome with her crewmates, gaining incredible insight into human behaviour in tight quarters, as well as the nature of boredom, dreams and isolation that arise amidst the promise of scientific progress and glory. Greene draws on her experience to contemplate what makes an astronaut, the challenges of freeze-dried eggs and time-lagged correspondence, the cost of shooting for a Planet B. The result is a story of space and life, of the slippage between dreams and reality, of bodies in space, and of humanity's incredible impulse to explore. From trying out life on Mars, Greene examines what it is to live on Earth. 'In her thoughtful, well-written account of the mission, Greene reflects on what this and other space missions can teach us about ourselves and life on Earth.' Physics Today

The Space Exploration annuals provide a yearly update on recent space launches, missions and results, to be published every September. The annual covers space exploration from a variety of angles, looking back at past missions, reviewing those currently under way and detailing those planned for the future, and encompassing both manned and unmanned spaceflight. The annual is written at an accessible level for both young and older space enthusiasts to provide a regular, balanced review of all the world's major space programmes, past, present and future. There is a special additional section in this year's annual entitled, 'Return to the Moon'.

Book & DVD. This is the story of Colonel Gerald P Carr USMC (retired), and centres around the mission commanding the American space station Skylab 4. For 84 days, over 2,000 straight hours, Carr orbited the Earth on board Skylab 4, setting a new record for time in space. Carr could have been the 16th man to walk on the Moon if the Apollo 19 mission hadn't been cancelled. In addition to Skylab 4, this book recounts the achievements of Colonel Carr both before entering the astronaut program and after leaving it. With the full assistance of his family and colleagues, his very special journey is shared with the reader. On the DVD: aSkylab 4 photo gallery; a tour around the Skylab mock-up by Jerry Carr; film clips of Skylab 4 activities and more.

Praise for Star Ware

"Star Ware is still a tour de force that any experienced amateur will find invaluable, and which hardware-minded beginners will thoroughly enjoy."

-- Robert Burnham, Sky & Telescope magazine

"Star Ware condenses between two covers what would normally take a telescope buyer many months to accumulate."

-- John Shibley, Astronomy magazine

Whether you're shopping for your first telescope or your fifth, don't be surprised if you feel overwhelmed by the dazzling array of product choices, bells and whistles, and the literature that describes them all. That's why you need Star Ware.

In this revised and updated Fourth Edition of the essential guide to comparing and selecting sky-watching equipment, award-winning astronomy writer Philip Harrington takes you telescope shopping the easy way. He analyzes and explains today's astronomy market and compares brands and models point by point. Star Ware gives you the confidence you need to buy the telescope and accessories that are right for you and the knowledge to get the most out of your new purchase, with:

Extensive, expanded reviews of leading models and accessories--including dozens of new products

A clear, step-by-step guide to every aspect of selecting telescopes, binoculars, filters, mounts, lenses, cameras, film, star charts, guides and references, and much more

Ten new do-it-yourself projects for building your own astronomical equipment

Easy tips on setting up, using, and caring for telescopes and other astronomical equipment

Lists of where to find everything astronomical, including Web sites and resources; distributors, dealers, and conventions; and corporate listings for products andservices

"The Pocket Space Guide[copyright]" concept is based around the idea of providing the space aficionado with a series of books covering the entire gamut of space exploration in a user friendly format. This is a standard paperback book at a reasonable price. It is ideal for gifts for children who are interested in space. It is useful for space enthusiasts, or as a gift for that person in your family who is involved in astronautics and aviation. It is compiled with the co-operation of NASA from the extensive files of Apogee Books! Each title is 96 pages in length and features 48 pages of colour photographs. Each book is packed with relevant pictures and data for each subject, such as crew photographs for each mission, crew patches, flight statistics such as time in space, distance travelled, mission objectives and a host of the best pictures taken during each program/mission. This special display box comes complete with 6 copies of each title.

We present results from an adaptive optics survey conducted with the Palomar and Keck telescopes over 3 years, which measured the frequency of stellar and sub-stellar companions to Sun-like stars. The survey sample contains 266 stars in the 3-10000 million year age range at heliocentric distances between 8 and 200 parsecs and with spectral types between F5-K5. A sub-sample of 101 stars, between 3-500 million years old, were observed in deep exposures with a coronagraph to search for faint sub-stellar companions. A total of 288 candidate companions were discovered around the sample stars, which were re-imaged at subsequent epochs to determine physical association with the candidate host stars by checking for common proper motion. Benefitting from a highly accurate astrometric calibration of the observations, we were able to successfully apply the common proper motion test in the majority of the cases, including stars with proper motions as small as 20 milli-arcseconds/year. The results from the survey include the discovery of three new brown dwarf companions (HD 49197B, HD 203030B, and ScoPMS 214B), 43 new stellar binaries, and a triple system. The physical association of an additional, a priori-suspected, candidate sub-stellar companion to the star HII 1348 is astrometrically confirmed. The newly-discovered and confirmed young brown dwarf companions span a range of spectral types between M5 and T0.5, and will be of prime significance for constraining evolutionary models of young brown dwarfs and extra-solar planets. Based on the 3 new detections of sub-stellar companions in the 101 star sub-sample and following a careful estimate of the survey incompleteness, a Bayesian statisticalanalysis shows that the frequency of 0.012-0.072 solar-mass brown dwarfs in 30-1600 AU orbits around young solar analogs is 6.8% (-4.9%, +8.3%; 2-sigma limits). While this is a factor of 3 lower than the frequency of stellar companions to G-dwarfs in the same orbital range, it is significantly higher than the frequency of brown dwarfs in 0-3 AU orbits discovered through precision radial velocity surveys. It is also fully consistent with the observed frequency of 0-3 AU extra-solar planets. Thus, the result demonstrates that the radial-velocity "brown dwarf desert" does not extend to wide separations, contrary to previous belief.

Ever since early stargazers discovered that some heavenly bodies wandered among the others, people have been fascinated by the planets. Kepler calculated their orbits from naked-eye observations; Galileo's telescope made it possible to discern their markings; now observations from spacecraft provide electronically enhanced images that bring these distant worlds even closer. In Worlds in the Sky, William Sheehan gives us a history of this long fascination, weaving together scientific history, anecdotes surrounding planetary discoveries, and the personal reflections of an incurable amateur astronomer. He describes how we arrived at our current understanding of the Moon and the planets and shows how certain individuals in history shaped the world's knowledge about the Solar System. The University of Arizona Press's Century Collection employs the latest in digital technology to make previously out-of-print books from our notable backlist available once again. Enriching historical and cultural experiences for readers, this collection offers these volumes unaltered from their original publication and in affordable digital or paperback formats.

• A guide to viewing stars, the moon, planets, meteors, comets, and aurora through binoculars
• Features a foreword by renowned astronomer and writer David Levy
• Includes a complete guide to current binocular brands and models and explains what to look for in each season

Many people assume that amateur stargazers must invest hundreds or even thousands of dollars in equipment before they can enjoy the wonders of the night sky. The truth is, though, that all you need is a simple pair of binoculars. This handy, easy-to-follow guide explains how to observe everything from the moon to meteor showers with binoculars and provides safety tips for viewing eclipses. It also includes separate sections for winter, spring, summer, and fall that give advice on what to look for and how to optimize your viewing. Ideal for budding astronomers of all ages, Binocular Stargazing is the perfect way to see the night sky through new eyes.

Did you know that stars are seasonal? That Orion is one of the brightest constellations? That a single day on Venus is longer than an entire year on Venus? Space has captivated mankind since the beginning of time. Fifty years ago, Neil Armstrong became the first man to step on the moon and since then our knowledge of astronomy has continued to expand. With so many mysteries yet to be solved, science journalist Abigail Beall takes readers on an astonishing journey though the landscape of space. In The Art of Urban Astronomy, you will be guided through the seasons and learn about the brightest stars and constellations, the myths and legends of astronomy and how to identify star clusters and galaxies with just your eyes or a pair of binoculars. For urban dwellers wrapped up in the rush and bustle of the city, it can be calming and truly valuable to take the time simply to stop, look and reconnect with nature. Packed full of seasonal star charts, constellation charts and fascinating facts, this is the perfect guide for those who have looked up at the night sky and don't know where to begin. After reading this book, you'll never look up in the same way again.

On July 20, 1969, humanity paused with attention locked to television and radio broadcasts as the astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission dramatically touched down on the dusty face of the moon. The first word from the lunar surface: Houston. Houston, Space City USA is a visual celebration of the city's historic ties to the US human space program. When President Kennedy declared, ""We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard,"" he did so from the campus of Rice University. More than half a century later, Houston continues to serve as the nerve center of the American human space program. Author and photographer Ray Viator, a longtime Houstonian, has lovingly captured the spirit of a city's devotion to space exploration from then to now. Using striking photographs of the full moon as a visual motif of Houston's connection to spaceflight, Viator also weaves together historic images to show how former cow pastures transformed into mission control. Some connections are obvious-the Houston Astros or the Houston Rockets. Others are hidden in plain sight, like the arm patches on the uniform of every Houston police officer that read, ""Space City U.S.A."" Viator's lens captures this and more. Houston, Space City USA not only marks the important milestone of the first lunar landing, but it also helps readers discover and rediscover a city's constellation of connections to one of humankind's greatest achievements.

Although the author's inquiries are still incomplete, he brought together some of the notes he had collected, as they may induce other inquirers to go on with the work. The reader must form his own judgment as to the direction in which the evidence tends. Lockyer believed the view that our ancient monuments were built to observe and mark the rising and setting places of the heavenly bodies is now fully established with the evidence.

"A fascinating and useful handbook to both the science and science fiction of extraterrestrial life. Cohen and Stewart are amusing, opinionated, and expert guides. I found it a terrific and informative piece of work–nothing else like it!"
–Greg Bear

"I loved it."
–Larry Niven

"Ever wonder about what aliens could be like? The world authority is Jack Cohen, a professional biologist who has thought long and hard about the vast realm of possibilities. This is an engaging, swiftly moving study of alien biology, a subject with bounds and constraints these authors plumb with verve and intelligence."
–Gregory Benford

"A celebration of life off Earth. A hearteningly optimistic book, giving a much-needed antidote to the pessimism of astrobiologists who maintain that we are alone in the universe–a stance based on a very narrow view of what could constitute life. A triumph of speculative nonfiction."
–Dougal Dixon, author of
After Man: A Zoology of the Future

This volume of star names is not intended for the professional astronomer, but as a reference to fill a vacancy in popular astronomical literature. It contains a sketch of the lunar and solar zodiacs which are constantly alluded to in the treating of individual constellations; as well as a detailed list of the constellations, their history among the nations, cataloging and early treatment by authors and their connection with astrology, art, folklore, literature and religion.

In August 1968, NASA made a bold decision: in just sixteen weeks, the United States would launch humankind's first flight to the moon. Only the year before, three astronauts had burned to death in their spacecraft, and since then the Apollo program had suffered one setback after another. Meanwhile, the Russians were winning the space race, the Cold War was getting hotter by the month, and President Kennedy's promise to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade seemed sure to be broken. But when Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders were summoned to a secret meeting and told of the dangerous mission, they instantly signed on. Written with all the colour and verve of the best narrative non-fiction, Apollo 8 takes us from Mission Control to the astronaut's homes, from the test labs to the launch pad. Then, on Christmas Eve, a nation that has suffered a horrendous year of assassinations and war is heartened by an inspiring message from the trio of astronauts in lunar orbit. And when the mission is over-after the first view of the far side of the moon, the first earth-rise, and the first re-entry through the earth's atmosphere following a flight to deep space-the impossible dream of walking on the moon suddenly seems within reach.

There are as many different kinds of stars as there are stars themselves. Each an individual, every one unique. In this arresting and lavishly illustrated volume, noted astronomy writer and teacher Jim Kaler choose 100 stars to illustrate the mind-boggling variety of the stars' shapes and sizes, their immense ages, and the vast range of configurations in which they exist.||From AG Draconis to Z Andromedae, this alphabetically arranged volume first lists each star's resident constellation, its class, its apparent brightness as viewed from Earth, its distance from our Sun, and its visual luminosity. Then the real story begins. In choosing his "top 100," Kaler has aimed not just at providing a representative sample of the Universe's extraordinarily diverse population, but at capturing their complexity, their dynamism, and the amazing view they provide into the extraordinary physical forces at play in the Universe.||James B. Kaler is Professor of Astronomy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has held both Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships, and has been awarded medals for his work from the University of Liege (Belgium) and the University of Mexico. He is the author of six books and dozens of articles on astronomy, including The Little Book of Stars (Copernicus Books, 2000) and lectures frequently. He also directs and maintains several educational websites, including the highly regarded and award-winning "Stars of the Week" site at the University of Illinois: http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/sow.html.||Reviews:||¿Most people know about Sirius, Canopus and Antares, but not everyone will be familiar with EG 129, HZ 21 and Polaris Australis, the dim star close to the south pole of the sky. Enter The Hundred Greatest Stars by James Kaler...Following a very clear general introduction to stellar astronomy, Kaler embarks on an informative tour through his hundred favourite stars, each given a page of text with an appropriate illustration on the facing page¿The really clever aspect of the book is that as well as describing the hundred stars, often bringing out aspects which are unfamiliar, Kaler succeeds in giving an excellent broad survey of recent developments in stellar astronomy. As is to be expected, the text is immensely authoritative¿The illustrations are beautiful...¿|¿New Scientist

Recent discoveries of planet-like objects circling other sun-like stars have stirred enormous interest in what other planets may exist in the universe, and whether they could support intelligent life. This book takes us into the midst of this search for extrasolar planets. Unlike other books, it focuses on the people behind the searches -- many known personally by the author -- and the extraordinary technology that is currently on the drawing boards. The author is an experienced, award-winning science journalist who was previously technology correspondent for the Financial Times of London. He has written on many topics in astronomy and astrobiology in over 35 different newspapers and magazines worldwide.

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.

The first photo book by the Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent a record-breaking Year in Space. This is an awe-inspiring collection of the photos Scott took himself while on board the International Space Station, many of which have never been seen before. Scott Kelly has seen the world in ways most of us never will. During his record-breaking 340 consecutive days on board the ISS, Scott Kelly circled the earth 5,440 times, witnessing 10,944 sunrises and sunsets - that's 16 a day. In all this time, he posted just 713 photos on Instagram. But it's not all sunrises, sunsets and #nofilter. Through the photos Kelly took during his time in space, we can learn to see the world in a new way and we are afforded a glimpse into a life that most of us will never encounter but of which many of us dream. This book will show you what it's really like to be a Nasa astronaut.

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.

"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.

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.