'A delight and triumph ... A thing of beauty ... Truly, truly magical' talkRADIO Look up on a clear evening, and you'll see thousands of stars shining in the night sky, each telling a story of their own. With star maps to help easily identify key celestial bodies, astronomer Giles Sparrow takes 21 stars (and three imposters) to look at what each pinprick of light can tell us about the birth, life and death of our universe. From red giants to supernovae and from stellar cities to our own Sun, The History of Our Universe in 21 Stars shows how the lights we see in the sky can help us unravel the mysteries of the cosmos.

Build your child's reading confidence at home with books at the right level Bored of spending all your holidays on Mars? Now you can travel further off the beaten astral plane with this fact-packed guide. Sapphire/Band 16 books offer longer reads to develop children's sustained engagement with texts and are more complex syntactically. A travel guide to all the planets in the solar system on pages 54 and 55 makes it easy for children to recap what the key facts they've learnt. Text type: A non-chronological report. Curriculum links: Science; Geography; Citizenship. This book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.

A beautiful showcase of Johann Doppelmayr's magnificent Atlas Coelestis that deconstructs its intricately drawn plates and explores its influential ideas. Showcasing Johann Doppelmayr's magnificent 1742 map of the cosmos, Atlas Coelestis, this spectacular guide to the heavens is also a superb introduction to the fundamentals and history of astronomy. Charting constellations, planets, comets and moons, Doppelmayr's Atlas presents the ideas and discoveries of many famous and influential astronomers, including Copernicus, Riccioli, Kepler, Newton and Halley, in intricate colour plates that interweave annotated diagrams and tables with figurative drawings and ornamental features. Here, you can appreciate the beauty of those exquisite astronomical and cosmographical plates and comprehend the details, which are also presented in step-by-step deconstructed form. Astronomer Giles Sparrow elucidates the scientific ideas inherent in each plate, expertly decoding and analysing the complex information contained in them and placing Doppelmayr's sumptuous Atlas in the context of the ground-breaking discoveries made during the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods. A spectacular, revelatory celestial compendium to the cosmos, Phaenomena expands on and explains Doppelmayr's original, awe-inspiring Atlas and reflects upon its influence on the development of the science of astronomy to the present day.

Expert science writer Giles Sparrow guides you through 21 stars you can see in the night sky and what they can teach us about our universe. On a clear evening, if you look up you can see thousands of stars shining in the dark sky, each with a story of their own. Taking 21 stars (and three imposters, that cheekily aren't technically stars), expert science writer Giles Sparrow offers a complete introduction to what is happening up in the night sky. Sparrow draws 'star maps' to help you easily identify the celestial bodies and then explains (for anyone not an astronomer themselves) what this particular pinprick of light can tell us about the birth, life and death of our universe. From red giants, quasars and supernovae to black holes, multiple stars and even our own Sun, this fascinating book tells the intriguing, inspiring and sometimes incredible story of how we came to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos, and what we learnt along the way. So look up at the sky and marvel at its wonders with this exciting new book.

This comprehensive guide presents in-depth information in a way that is engaging and accessible for children.

This comprehensive book presents in-depth information in a way that is engaging and accessible to young readers.

Following the 'Big Bang', it took the universe billions of years to evolve into the unique system of stars and planets that we know of today. Scientists have studied the planets of our solar system for centuries, and are beginning to understand the billions of stars and other bodies that make up the Universe. Stars and Planets is an ideal reference book for anyone interested in astronomy, featuring 300 of the most well known stars, planets, moons, constellations and other cosmological phenomena, such as black holes and quasars. Each entry includes an image - either a photograph or an artist's impression or diagram - and a key information table including specifications such as the mass, radius, surface temperature, distance from sun, gravity and major elements of each object. Presented in a handy, pocket-size format, full of facts and engaging text, Stars and Planets is a valuable reference source as well as a fascinating read, revealing the spectacular world of the Cosmos.

Secrets in the Skies delves deep into the life and discoveries of the world's most famous stargazer, Galileo Galilei, and the star-studded history of astronomy, from our prehistoric ancestors to the work of today's most brilliant scientists. In this stunningly detailed visual retelling of the birth of science, the solar system is brought to life in glorious full-colour, with breathtaking illustrations by James Weston Lewis.

From his early days as a young boy in Pisa, to his fiery battles with the Roman Catholic Church, readers follow the remarkable journey undertaken by Galileo in his search for truth. As the pages turn, you can witness the ancient origins of celestial examinations, Galileo's ground-breaking invention of the telescope, his controversial trials before the Inquisition, and the crucial discoveries of the stargazer's final days.

Readers young and old will marvel at the beautiful and engaging artwork, and be swept away by the dramatic story behind Galileo's stellar scientific breakthroughs, richly described by author Giles Sparrow.

What Shape is Space? is a question with surprisingly far-reaching implications for our understanding of the very nature of reality and our place within it. The concepts involved may be sophisticated, but Giles Sparrow's effortless prose style easily renders them understandable, allowing readers to get to grips with the overarching debates at the cutting edge of cosmology today. Infographics, diagrams and astronomical visualizations illustrate and clarify the various astonishing implications of a universe of infinite space.

This compelling story of exploration charts and celebrates humankind in space, from Sputnik's launch in 1957 through the Apollo Moon landings and the International Space Station to future missions to Mars and beyond. Spaceflight chronicles how, in the six decades that followed Sputnik, the world was revolutionized by space travel and exploration. The opening up of Earth's orbit to satellites led to a revolution in communications, monitoring of the environment, and materials science. For the human imagination, the impact has been even greater - the voyages of robotic space probes have transformed our view of the Solar System, while Earth-orbiting satellites and missions to the Moon have forever changed our view of ourselves. This book is a celebration of human ingenuity and imagination. From the work of pioneers like Wernher von Braun, Yuri Gagarin, and Neil Armstrong to the triumphs and tragedies that followed, it reveals the people, science, and technology that have propelled us into the Space Age.

This concise, illuminating guide takes us on a comprehensive tour of the solar system, from the Sun at its very heart - via the planets and their moons - to the icy objects at its periphery, some 150 billion kilometres away. The Solar System in Minutes explains the history and features of all the major celestial bodies, including the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, the planets' main moons, the asteroids, comets, dwarf planets and the Kuiper belt; as well as the birth, evolution and science of the solar system and the story - and future - of its exploration. With 200 of the very latest space photographs and explanatory diagrams, here is the easiest way to understand our cosmic neighbourhood.

What happens when a star dies? How many asteroids are in our solar system? Can galaxies collide? What is dark energy? Astronomy in Minutes answers all these questions and more as it condenses 200 key concepts into easily digestible essays. From Trojan asteroids to stellar black holes, and from superclusters to cosmic microwave background, this book will take you on an essential tour around the universe. Beginning with the specks and constellations that we see in the night sky, and then zooming in on the objects and 'matter' beyond the naked eye, Astronomy in Minutes draws on established theories and recent research. Each essay is accompanied by an image or a clear diagram to help unravel complex ideas. Beginning with the constellations and finishing with the latest cosmological theories, this is the perfect reference guide to this fascinating subject. Contents include: The celestial sphere, Piscis Austrinus, the Earth-Moon system, Io and Ganymede, Kuiper Belt Objects, Measuring stellar properties, Nuclear fusion, Red and orange dwarfs, Open star clusters, Planetary nebulae, Supernova remnants, Cosmic expansion, Quasars and blazars, Nature of spacetime, Nucleosynthesis and the Anthropic Principle.

From our own solar system to the edges of the universe, 50 Astronomy Ideas You Really Need to Know is your introduction to the most important concepts, discoveries and mysteries in astronomy. How did the universe begin? Where did the Moon come from? What happens in the heart of a black hole? Why are gravitational waves so significant? And is there life elsewhere in the cosmos? In fifty fascinating essays covering the central ideas of astronomy and cosmology, accompanied by diagrams, definitions of essential terms and timelines of key discoveries, this book examines the nature and variety of our universe - the life cycle of stars, the formation of planets, the structure of galaxies and the puzzles of dark matter and the multiverse. Expansive and illuminating, 50 Astronomy Ideas You Really Need to Know is the complete guide to the birth, life and possible death of the cosmos.

This comprehensive, educational book presents in-depth information in a way that is engaging and accessible to young readers.

Fully illustrated with 400 of the most striking and up-to-date astronomical images and covering all the major constellations and landmarks of the night sky, The Stargazer's Handbook reveals the treasures of the cosmos - what they are, where they are, and how to see them, including month-by-month guides to the changing hemispheres and tips and guides on the best stargazing equipment. This new compact edition is perfect for browsing at home or accompanying you out at night under the stars. Filled with stunning photography, this book is all you need to start discovering the universe.

Physics in Minutes covers everything you need to know about physics, condensed into 200 key topics. Each idea is explained in clear, accessible language, building from the basics, such as mechanics, waves and particles, to more complex topics, including neutrinos, string theory and dark matter. Based on scientific research proving that the brain best absorbs information visually, illustrations accompany the text to aid quick comprehension and easy recollection. This convenient and compact reference book is ideal for anyone interested in how our world works. Chapters include: Newton's Laws of Motion, Schrodinger's cat, Magnetism, Superconductivity, Fission and fusion, Higgs Boson, Entropy, Dark matter.

This comprehensive encyclopedia presents in-depth information in a way that is engaging and accessible to young readers.