Are we alone in the universe, or are there other life forms 'out there'? This is one of the most scientifically and philosophically important questions that humanity can ask. Now, in the early 2020s, we are tantalizingly close to an answer. As this book shows, the answer will almost certainly be that life forms are to be found across the Milky Way and beyond. They will be thinly spread, to be sure. Yet the number of inhabited planets probably runs into the trillions. Some are close enough for us to detect evidence of life by analysing their atmospheres. This evidence may be found within a couple of decades. Its arrival will be momentous. But even before it arrives we can anticipate what life elsewhere will be like by examining the ecology and evolution of life on Earth. This book considers the current state of play in relation to these titanic issues.

From the age of ten, looking up at the stars, Jerry Ross knew that he wanted to journey into space. This autobiography tells the story of how he came not only to achieve that goal, but to become the most-launched astronaut in history, as well as a NASA veteran whose career spanned the entire US Space Shuttle program. From his childhood in rural Indiana, through education at Purdue University, and a career in the US Air Force, Ross charted a path to NASA after overcoming many setbacks-from failing to qualify for Air Force pilot training because of "bad" eyesight, to an initial failure to be selected into the astronaut program. The majority of the book is an insider's account of the US Space Shuttle program, including the unforgettable experience of launch, the delights of weightless living, and the challenges of constructing the International Space Station. Ross is a uniquely qualified narrator. During seven spaceflights, he spent 1,393 hours in space, including 58 hours and 18 minutes on nine space walks. Life on the ground is also described, including the devastating experiences of the Challenger and Columbia disasters. For readers who have followed the space program from Mercury through the International Space Station and wonder what comes next, this book provides fascination; for young people interested in space exploration and reaching for their dreams, whatever they might be, this book provides inspiration. Full of stories of spaceflight that few humans have ever experienced, told with humor and honesty, Spacewalker presents a unique perspective on the hard work, determination, and faith necessary to travel beyond this world. Key Points: An insider's account of the US Space Shuttle program, from before its first launch through the final landing, and the building of the International Space Station. A firsthand account of life in space from the first human to fly seven missions. An inspirational story of a personal journey from rural Indiana to outer space, powered by a deep Christian faith.

By day, every year over 40,000 visitors pour in. Across the Rio Grande, a hundred miles away, Mexican mountaineers use the white domes as landmarks. By night, perched almost 7,000 feet above the sleeping, earthbound world, astronomers probe the secrets of the night sky. This is the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, one of the world's largest university-operated astronomical installations.

Big and Bright: A History of the McDonald Observatory is the story of a remarkable collaboration between two major universities, one a prestigious private school, the other a growing southwestern state institution. The University of Chicago had astronomers, but its Yerkes Observatory was aging and underfunded; the University of Texas had money for an observatory but no working astronomer to staff it. Out of their mutual need, they formed a thirty-year compact for a joint venture. Unusual in its day, the Yerkes-McDonald connection presaged the future. In this arrangement, one can see some of the beginnings of today's consortium "big science."

Now the McDonald Observatory's early history can be put in proper perspective. Blessed with a gifted and driving founding director, the world's (then) second-largest telescope, and an isolation that permitted it to be virtually the only major astronomical observatory that continued operations throughout World War II, the staff of McDonald Observatory helped lay the foundations of modern astrophysics during the 1940s. For over a decade after the war, a lonely mountaintop in West Texas was the mecca that drew nearly all the most important astronomers from all over the world.

Based on personal reminiscences and archival material, as well as published historical sources, Big and Bright is one of the few histories of a major observatory, unique in its focus on the human side of the story.

An inspiration to amateur and professional astronomers alike, the Yearbook of Astronomy warrants a place on the bookshelf of all sky watchers and stargazers. Maintaining its appealing style and presentation, the Yearbook of Astronomy 2019 contains an authoritative set of sky charts and comprehensive jargon-free monthly sky notes to enable backyard astronomers everywhere to plan their viewing of the year's eclipses, comets, meteor showers and deep sky objects. In addition, a variety of entertaining and informative articles present the reader with information on a wide range of topics including, among others, The Cassini-Huygens Mission to the Saturn System; 100 Years of the International Astronomical Union; The First Micro-Quasar; Getting the Measure of Double Stars; Asaph Hall: Man of Mars; and Science Fiction and the Future of Astronomy. The Yearbook of Astronomy has been around for well over half a century and, as it heads towards its Diamond Jubilee edition in 2022, continues to be essential reading for anyone lured by the magic of astronomy and who wants to extend their knowledge of the Universe and the wonders it plays host to.

Willy Ley inspired young rocket scientists and would-be astronauts around the world to imagine a future of interplanetary travel long before space shuttles existed. This is the first biography of the science writer and rocketeer who predicted and boosted the rise of the Space Age. Born in Germany, Ley became involved in amateur rocketry until the field was taken over by the Nazis. He fled to America, where he forged a new life as a weapons expert and journalist during World War II and as a rocket researcher after the war. As America's foremost authority on rockets, missiles, and space travel, he authored books and scientific articles, while also regularly writing for science fiction pulp magazines and publishing what he termed romantic zoology--a blend of zoology, cryptozoology, history, and mythology. He even consulted for television's Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and the Disney program Man in Space, thrilling audiences with a romanticized view of what spaceflight would be like. Yet as astronauts took center stage and scientific intellectuals such as Wernher von Braun became influential during the space race, Ley lost his celebrity status. With an old-fashioned style of popular writing and eccentric perspectives influenced by romanticism and science fiction, he was ignored by younger historians. This book returns Willy Ley to his rightful place as the energizer of an era--a time when scientists and science popularizers mixed ranks and shared the spotlight so that our far-fetched, fantastic dreams could turn into the reality of tomorrow.

Written by an active researcher in the field, Galaxy: Mapping the Cosmos tells the rich scientific story of galaxy evolution and observation - discoveries of `spiral nebulae', the nature of galaxies and the current `World Model'. Astronomer James Geach takes us on a tour of what is currently known and unknown, discussing why the ancient science of astronomy continues to fascinate humanity. Appealing to all readers interested in astronomy and cosmology, and featuring 108 superb colour photographs, Galaxy explores the enigma of our cosmic habitat, chronicling how our home in the Universe came to be.

How to predict and calculate the positions of stars, planets, the sun, the moon, and satellites using a personal computer and high school mathematics. Our knowledge of the universe is expanding rapidly, as space probes launched decades ago begin to send information back to earth. There has never been a better time to learn about how planets, stars, and satellites move through the heavens. This book is for amateur astronomers who want to move beyond pictures of constellations in star guides and solve the mysteries of a starry night. It is a book for readers who have wondered, for example, where Saturn will appear in the night sky, when the sun will rise and set, or how long the space station will be over their location. In Celestial Calculations, J. L. Lawrence shows readers how to find the answers to these and other astronomy questions with only a personal computer and high school math. Using an easy-to-follow step-by-step approach, Lawrence explains what calculations are required, why they are needed, and how they all fit together. Lawrence begins with basic principles: unit of measure conversions, time conversions, and coordinate systems. He combines these concepts into a computer program that can calculate the location of a star, and uses the same methods for predicting the locations of the sun, moon, and planets. He then shows how to use these methods for locating the many satellites we have sent into orbit. Finally, he describes a variety of resources and tools available to the amateur astronomer, including star charts and astronomical tables. Diagrams illustrate the major concepts, and computer programs that implement the algorithms are included. Photographs of actual celestial objects accompany the text, and interesting astronomical facts are interspersed throughout. Source code (in Python 3, JAVA, and Visual Basic) and executables for all the programs and examples presented in the book are available for download at https://CelestialCalculations.github.io.

The Doctor may have regenerated on many occasions, but so too has Doctor Who. Moving with the times, the show has evolved across fifty years...New Dimensions of Doctor Who explores contemporary developments in Doctor Who's music, design and representations of technology, as well as issues of showrunner authority and star authorship. Putting these new dimensions in context means thinking about changes in the TV industry such as the rise of branding and transmedia storytelling. Along with its faster narrative pace, and producer/fan interaction via Twitter, 'new Who' also has a new home at Roath Lock Studios, Cardiff Bay. Studying the 'Doctor Who Experience' in its Cardiff setting, and considering audience nostalgia alongside anniversary celebrations, this book explores how current Doctor Who relates to real-world spaces and times. New Directions of Doctor Who is the scholarly equivalent of a multi-Doctor story, bringing together the authors of Triumph of a Time Lord and TARDISbound, as well as the editors of Time and Relative Dissertations in Space, Impossible Worlds, Impossible Things, Torchwood Declassified and Doctor Who, The Eleventh Hour. It also features contributions from experts on TV brands, bioethics, transmedia and cultural icons. As 'new Who' creates ongoing mysteries and poses exciting questions, this collection demonstrates the vitality of Doctor Who studies.

Ci sono 365 notti in un anno (366 se bisestile) e per l astrofilo non ce ne sono mai due uguali. Il cielo ogni notte propone un suo show che ha per protagonisti migliaia di oggetti come stelle, costellazioni, pianeti, nebulose, da riconoscere uno ad uno, da ammirare e studiare.

Sir Patrick Moore celeberrimo conduttore televisivo inglese, astrofilo e divulgatore noto in tutto il mondo ha scritto questo libro per suggerire all amante del cielo quali oggetti di particolare interesse possono essere osservati in ciascuna diversa notte dell anno. Vengono proposte mappe stellari di facile interpretazione, mentre il testo tratta di fisica, delle stelle e della loro storia, di sistemi binari, galassie, della Luna e dei pianeti: di tutto cio che la volta celeste offre all astrofilo curioso.

Cosa hanno detto della prima edizione:

" ben scritto e pieno di entusiasmo." New Scientist

"Patrick Moore si e ripetuto. Che libro eccellente e questo." Astronomy and Space"

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 last of the five naked-eye planets discovered in ancient times, Mercury has long been an elusive, enigmatic world. As seen from the Earth, it never emerges far from the Sun, and astronomers in the telescopic era found it challenging to work out such basic data as its rotation period, the inclination of its axis, and whether or not it possessed an atmosphere. In this up-to-date and beautifully illustrated volume, William Sheehan brings our understanding of the planet into clear focus. He deftly traces the history from the earliest observations right up to the most recent explorations using radar and spacecraft. The planet has been surveyed in great detail, revealing vast volcanic plains, water-ice deposits in craters near the poles, and a remarkable core having the highest iron content of any body of the Solar System. A fascinating world in its own right, Mercury also holds important clues for scientists attempting to better understand the origin and evolution of the Earth.

Professor Stephen Hawking is generally considered to have been one of the world's greatest thinkers. Here, his phenomenal bestseller A Brief History of Time is illustrated to bring his theories to life in a clear, captivating and visually engaging way. 'This book marries a child's wonder to a genius's intellect. We journey into Hawking's universe, while marvelling at his mind' - The Sunday Times 'Stephen Hawking can explain the complexities of cosmological physics with an engaging combination of clarity and wit...' - Observer 'Exceptional writing explaining the mysteries and beauty of our universe. The book is very fascinating and highly enjoyable. Highly recommended' - ***** Reader review 'This book is mind blowing' - ***** Reader review 'A masterpiece' - ***** Reader review ******************************************************************************************** Was there a beginning of time? Could time run backwards? Is the universe infinite or does it have boundaries? These are just some of the questions considered in the internationally acclaimed masterpiece by the world-renowned physicist Professor Stephen Hawking. It begins by reviewing the great theories of the cosmos from Newton to Einstein, before delving into the secrets which still lie at the heart of space and time, from the Big Bang to black holes, via spiral galaxies and strong theory. To this day A Brief History of Time remains a staple of the scientific canon, and its succinct and clear language continues to introduce millions to the universe and its wonders. In this edition, Professor Hawking explains his complex theories through a fresh visual dimension. Over 150 stunning colour illustrations have been specially commissioned for this purpose to help the reader understand what have become popular mythic images of our century, but which nonetheless remain difficult, abstract ideas to grasp. This stunning gift edition also includes a new appendix with updates to the text and tributes to Stephen Hawking.

Thirty years ago the only planets we knew were the ones orbiting our own sun; we now know of thousands of other worlds orbiting distant stars. In this book astronomer Niall Deacon journeys to twenty of these globes: from giant, blisteringly hot planets orbiting close to their parent stars to frozen planets that float through space alone, and from dead stars shredding asteroids to worlds made of diamond and even planets that may be similar to the Earth. Deacon also takes in the latest exoplanet discoveries, and explains how astronomers have come to learn so much about these strange and distant worlds. Twenty Worlds tells a sweeping story, of real planets around other stars, and appeals to the wide audience for popular science and astronomy.

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.

The story of the Universe is written in the light that travels through it - light that we can capture. Nearly everything we know about how the Universe works on its grandest scale comes from the analysis of the light - photons - that may have travelled nearly fourteen billion years from the Big Bang itself to reach us. Have you ever wondered what is the most distant source of light we can see, or how a star shines? Did you know that black holes can blaze like cosmic beacons across intergalactic space, and that ancient radio waves might herald the ignition of the very first stars? Have you ever thought about what light really is? Five Photons explains all with the tales of five fascinating astrophysical processes through the journeys of light across space and time. They are tales of quantum physics and general relativity, stars and black holes, dark matter and dark energy. Let yourself be swept away on a journey of discovery towards a deeper understanding of the Universe.

Celestial Delights is essentially a 'TV Guide' for teh sky. This will be its third edition. This title, which has aggregated sales of about 20,000 copies to date in its two previous editions and has found a niche with skygazers, is much awaited. Through extensive graphics integrated with an eight-year-long calendar of sky events, it provides a look at "don't miss" sky events, mostly for naked-eye and binocular observing. The book is organized by ease of observation - lunar phases and the brighter planets come first, while solar eclipses, the aurora, and comets come later. Celestial Delights also includes a hefty dose of sky lore, astronomical history, and clear overviews of current science. It provides a handy reference to upcoming naked-eye events, with information broken out in clear and simple diagrams and tables that are cross-referenced against a detailed almanac for each year covered. Most broad-ranging astronomy field guides focus on stars, constellations, and the deep sky, but tend to ignore planetary events, which are in by far the most widely observable aspects of the changing night sky. Celestial Delights puts a variety of information all in one place, presents it in a friendly way that does not require prior in-depth astronomical knowledge, but provides the context and historical background for understanding events that astronomical computer programs or web sites lack.

Sie begeistern sich fur Astronomie und Astrophysik? Tauchen Sie mit diesem Buch in die atemberaubenden Welten unserer kosmischen Nachbarschaft ein: Lassen Sie sich auf faszinierende Monde entfuhren, erfahren Sie, welche geologischen Mechanismen die Planeten unserer Nachbarschaft formen, finden Sie heraus, mit welchen Kraften Jupiter seine Monde durchknetet, wie Saturns Ringe gespeist werden und welche Geheimnisse die Zwergplaneten in unserem Sonnensystem bergen. Das Buch verfolgt das Sonnensystem vom Zentrum zu den aussersten Koerpern, gibt dem Leser Einblicke in den aktuellen Stand der Sonnensystemforschung und verrat, welche heute nochungeklarten Ratsel unserer nachsten Nachbarn umgeben. Beschreibungen der wichtigsten Missionen und ihrer Ziele legen dar, wie man zum heutigen Bild unseres Sonnensystems gelangt. UEberblickskasten veranschaulichen dem Leser wissenschaftliche Methoden wie die Spektroskopie ferner Welten oder der Altersbestimmung durch Kraterzahlen. "Expedition zu fremden Welten" fasziniert den Leser durch seine unglaubliche Detailfulle, atemberaubenden Fotos und informativen Abbildungen und eine allgemeinverstandliche Darstellung der schwierigen Mechanismen, die in unserem Sonnensystem wirken. Ein Muss fur alle Astrofans und solche die es werden wollen!

We all know the names: Grissom, Armstrong, Cernan-legends of the space age whose names resonate with people around the world and whose deeds need no introduction. We know less about the men who led the organization that planned and began the US exploration of space: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Thomas O. Paine grew up an ordinary boy in northern California during the Great Depression of the 1930s. He would go on to serve as NASA's third administrator, leading the space agency through the first historic missions that sent astronauts on voyages away from Earth. On his watch, seven Apollo flights orbited our planet and five reached our moon. From those missions came the first of twelve men to walk on the moon. Years later, in 1985, the Reagan administration would call on Paine again to chair the nation's first-ever National Commission on Space. The Paine Commission Report of 1986 challenged twenty-first-century America to "lead the exploration and development of the space frontier, advancing science, technology, and enterprise, and building institutions and systems that make accessible vast new resources and support human settlements beyond Earth orbit, from the highlands of the Moon to the plains of Mars." In Piercing the Horizon, Sunny Tsiao masterfully delivers new insights into the behind-the-scenes drama of the space race. Tsiao examines how Paine's days as a World War II submariner fighting in the Pacific shaped his vision for the future of humankind in space. The book tells how Paine honed his skills as a pioneering materials engineer at the fabled postwar General Electric Company in the 1950s, to his dealings inside the halls of NASA and with Johnson, Nixon, and later, the Reagan and Bush administrations.As robotic missions begin leaving the earth, Tsiao invites the reader to take another look at the plans that Paine articulated regarding how America could have had humans on Mars by the year 2000 as the first step to the exploration of deep space. Piercing the Horizon provides provocative context to current conversations on the case for reaching Mars, settling our solar system, and continuing the exploration of space.

Gli anni della Luna ripercorre la storia dell'astronautica durante il periodo piu esaltante della conquista dello spazio, quello compreso tra il lancio dello Sputnik, nel 1957, e l'ultima missione lunare portata a termine dall'Apollo 17 nel 1972.
Lo spazio, immaginato, raccontato e disegnato da artisti e sognatori durante gli anni Cinquanta, viene finalmente raggiunto con il "compagno di viaggio" russo nell'ottobre del '57. E' l'inizio di una nuova era, che si guadagna presto le copertine e le prime pagine delle riviste piu famose.

Leggendo quello che si raccontava un tempo emerge lo spaccato della nostra societa, e del mondo che la circondava con le sue inquietudini e le sue speranze."

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.

Molti astrofili ritengono che l'astrofisica sia un argomento difficile, che richiede conoscenze matematiche almeno a livello universitario.

Non e necessariamente cosi. L'approccio quantitativo adottato da Mike Inglis riesce a spiegare tutti gli aspetti dell'astrofisica in termini semplici, evitando i tecnicismi matematici con i quali questa disciplina viene spesso associata.

L'astrofisica e facile! inizia considerando il diagramma H-R e altri strumenti di base dell'astrofisico, poi spazia nell'Universo, trattando del mezzo interstellare, delle nebulose, della nascita, dell'evoluzione e della morte delle stelle, fino a considerare la fisica delle galassie e degli ammassi di galassie.

Per ogni argomento, l'autore elenca una lista di oggetti che si prestano ad essere osservati con strumenti amatoriali, di modo che l'astrofilo puo uscire ad ammirare sulla volta celeste le stelle, le nebulose, le galassie di cui il libro sta trattando.

"Le bolle stavano turbinando tutto intorno a me e massaggiavano il mio corpo ... Mentre me la godevo in questo fantastico bagno di bolle, i miei occhi si fecero pesanti e mi lasciaii trasportare in un dormiveglia sublimamente estatico." Cosi inizia l incontro di Alfie con una vasca da bagno eccezionale e rivelatrice, acquistata da un vicino misterioso di nome Al.

L Enigma di Einstein, ovvero buchi neri nel mio bagno di schiuma, racconta la storia della teoria della gravitazione, dai suoi primordi fino agli ultimi sviluppi in astrofisica, focalizzandosi sulla teoria della relativita generale di Albert Einstein e sulla fisica dei buchi neri. Tramite conversazioni avvincenti e diagrammi scarabocchiati su tovaglioli di carta, si susseguono a ruota i rudimenti della relativita, dello spazio-tempo e di molti aspetti della fisica moderna. In scenette narrate con abilita pedagogica e notevole talento letterario, il lettore s imbattera nelle lezioni informali che un astrofisico cosmopolita tiene al suo amico Alfie, organizzatore free lance di progetti di ricerca. Unitevi al divertimento intellettuale ed emozionatevi con le idee spumeggianti, mentre con la fantasia vi godete un rilassante bagno in questa vasca magica "

Le economiche webcam stanno rivoluzionando l'imaging astronomico amatoriale, fornendo un'alternativa conveniente ai CCD raffreddati, quanto meno per i soggetti piu luminosi.

Le webcam, che costano solo poche decine di euro, sono in grado di realizzare riprese di piu alta risoluzione rispetto alle macchine fotografiche digitali grazie alla maggiore velocita di scaricamento dell'immagine che "congela" i dettagli planetari, nonostante il disturbo della turbolenta atmosfera terrestre. La loro struttura e piuttosto semplice, ed e facile rimuovere la lente frontale per utilizzarle in proiezione dell'oculare con un telescopio astronomico. Le webcam si collegano direttamente a un PC, in modo tale che si puo utilizzare un apposito software per sommare sequenze di immagini, ottenendo cosi un notevole miglioramento qualitativo dell'immagine finale.

In questo libro, Martin Mobberley introduce l'astrofilo all'uso delle webcam e all'elaborazione digitale delle immagini, mentre fornisce suggerimenti dettagliati per la ripresa del Sole, della Luna e dei pianeti. Ogni oggetto, con le specifiche tecniche di ripresa ed elaborazione, viene trattato in un capitolo a se.

Attraverso le immagini di questo libro, l'astrofilo potra rendersi conto di quanto si possa fare applicando una webcam al proprio telescopio

L'astronomia a Roma c'e sempre stata, ma un po' nascosta: era nei palazzi, nelle chiese o, meglio, sopra le chiese, specole disseminate lungo un percorso che oramai conoscono in pochi.

I romani hanno assistito, incuriositi ed impauriti, al rogo di Giordano Bruno in un angolo di Campo de' Fiori a loro familiare, ma probabilmente non capirono bene di quale colpa fosse accusato. Non pensarono certo che si trattasse di un filosofo e di uno scienziato che aveva cercato di immaginare in che modo era fatto il mondo.

Chi era questo Galileo, di cui si celebrava il processo a S. Maria sopra Minerva? Era un uomo che voleva cambiare la prospettiva del mondo e che, per questo, era stato ammonito da Roberto Bellarmino.

E chi era questo gesuita, Secchi, che nel 1870 costringeva gli Italiani a privare Roma del suo Osservatorio Astronomico, visto che il Direttore non riconosceva lo Stato Italiano?

Come e possibile che dopo la visita di Hitler a Mussolini alla vigilia della Guerra, la Germania decise di regalare all'Italia un Osservatorio Astronomico completo?

Forse, e a causa di questa storia che i luoghi dell'astronomia a Roma si trovano disseminati lungo un percorso nel quale ancora oggi si possono ritrovare i segni di Osservatori Astronomici che sono stati attivi e che, per la loro natura, restano nascosti e misteriosi.

E che, proprio per questo, vale la pena di non dimenticare.

In meno di due decenni l'astronomia amatoriale ha cambiato volto. Il motivo, naturalmente, e il progresso tecnologico. Telescopi economici, ma di alta qualita, montature "go-to" controllate dal computer, autoguide, camere CCD, videocamere e (come sempre) computer e Internet sono soltanto alcuni degli elementi che hanno rivoluzionato l'astronomia del XXI secolo. Non solo hanno reso l'astronomia amatoriale piu "amichevole" e divertente, ma hanno anche ampliato enormemente le potenzialita dell'astrofilo.

Martin Mobberley dapprima affronta le tematiche di base per poi analizzare in modo approfondito quali sono gli strumenti disponibili sul mercato. Da qui prende le mosse per passare in rassegna le rivoluzionarie possibilita che si aprono per gli astrofili, dalla ripresa di immagini, alla spettroscopia, alla fotometria, alla sorveglianza degli oggetti Near-Earth - comete e asteroidi che possono avvicinarsi pericolosamente alla Terra.

L'astrofilo moderno e una valida guida alla nuova astronomia. Sia il neofita che chiede di essere introdotto in questo campo, sia l'astrofilo esperto che voglia tenersi al passo delle innovazioni troveranno in questo libro cio che fa per loro.