Hubble's universe Greatest discoveries and latest images

Terence Dickinson

Book - 2012

Bestselling astronomy writer Terence Dickinson showcases a breathtaking portfolio drawn from an archive of over 500,000 existing Hubble images together with facts and tidbits about Hubble's history and discoveries not found in any other book.

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Subjects
Published
Richmond Hill, Ont. : Firefly Books 2012.
Language
English
Main Author
Terence Dickinson (-)
Physical Description
300 p. : ill. (chiefly col.), col. ports. ; 29 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781770854338
9781770851078
  • Hubble's universe
  • Hubble's top science accomplishments
  • The message of starlight
  • Crucibles of creation
  • Starry tapestry
  • Blaze of glory
  • Hubble's invisible universe
  • Empires of stars
  • Neighbor worlds : the planets
  • Hubble's strange universe.
Review by Choice Review

The revised Hubble's Universe explores the Hubble Space Telescope and its observations from its launch in 1990 through early 2017. This large-format volume is lavishly illustrated, containing over 300 photographs--most in color--and a four-page foldout of the spiral galaxy in Andromeda. Though the imagery is the centerpiece, Dickenson, who has penned several popular astronomy books, substantiates the science behind Hubble and its observations as well. Spectra are virtually absent from the images, so the serious reader will need to look elsewhere for additional information on some topics. Some technical subjects are well explained, as in a section on how NASA's vivid images are created by arcane operations of the telescope and sensors, and by digital processing on the ground. Readers may be surprised to learn that images of distant galaxies actually consist of thousands of very brief exposures, edited to remove artifacts from large numbers of cosmic ray hits on the camera, that are then cobbled together by a computer. Another worthy work on the Hubble telescope is Zimmerman's The Universe in a Mirror (CH, Dec'08, 46-2056). Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Stephen P Maran, American Astronomical Society

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review

The Hubble Space Telescope, which prolific astronomy writer Dickinson calls a remarkable discovery machine, has been orbiting the earth since 1990, inspiring many a book showcasing its astrophotography. What makes this superbly well-produced volume unique is its presentation of 300 images that have never been made public before. Dickinson's expert and enthusiastic commentary also makes the Hubble wondrous all over again. He explains the 2009 reboot and how astronomers use a process called drizzling to create Hubble's astonishingly sharp images, such as a staggering two-page look at a small segment of the night sky the size of a period in this book held at arm's length, filled with thousands of galaxies, each containing billions of stars. Dickinson elucidates Hubble's top discoveries, from proof that supermassive black holes are common in galaxies to success in measuring the universe's expansion rate. With images of the birth and death of stars and the marvelous shapes nebulae take, reflected in such names as Helix, Jewel Box, Loch Ness, and Cat's Eye, any engagement with this cosmic portfolio, from picture gazing to deep reading, is grandly rewarded.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

From its orbit some 360 miles above the Earth's surface, the 12-ton Hubble space telescope has taken hundreds of thousands of images that challenge and humble astronomers as much as they charm and astound. With the glorious 350 photos he has selected, Dickinson, a science writer who specializes in astronomy (NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe), shows how the Hubble "sees" with unprecedented clarity and sharpness. The 2009 installation of the wide field camera 3 further improved its capabilities, giving researchers an even bigger window on the universe: the atmospheres of extrasolar planets, black holes and the evolution of our universe, even dark energy and dark matter. Evocatively named nebulae-"Cat's Eye," "Loch Ness," "Elephant's Trunk"-swirl and shimmer, revealing the fireworks of newly ignited stars. Dickinson's choice of images lets us see into the core of our own Milky Way as well as deep space, where the glimmer of distant galaxies offers clues to the structure of the universe. Part gorgeous coffee-table book, part accessible and mesmerizing astronomy book, Dickinson's latest is a treasure map to the majesty of our universe. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Dickinson (NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe) details the Hubble Space Telescope's contributions to science in both text and images. The book's precise descriptions and captions brilliantly complement the nearly 300 full-color Hubble images that form the bulk of the work. Its ten chapters showcase a selection of Hubble's most significant images with explanations of the discoveries they helped make. Especially fantastic are the images of solar wind stripping away large gas clouds that harbor stellar nurseries; images of Hubble's deep field, revealing galaxy clusters from halfway across the universe; and sublime images of vast, colorful nebulas. The work also unfolds Hubble's pictures of planets, close-ups of merging galaxies, and images of enormous, tightly-packed star clusters, some containing millions of stars. Dickinson explains how all the photographed objects fit into scientists' understanding of cosmology, adding extra context to the pictures. VERDICT Even if you only look at the pictures, this is an amazing book. The accompanying text and photo captions make the work outstanding.-Jeffrey Beall, Univ. of Colorado Denver Lib. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

INTRODUCTION In addition to being one of the greatest scientific instruments of all time, the Hubble Space Telescope has given humanity a spectacular legacy of beautiful images of the universe. The best of these are displayed--and explained--in this book. As a teenager in the 1950s, I was captivated by the science fiction of the brilliant visionary Arthur C. Clarke. Browsing the local library, I stumbled upon Clarke's early nonfiction work The Exploration of Space , published in 1951. Half a century later, The New York Times described this classic text as "a seamless blend of scientific expertise and poetic imagination that helped usher in the space age." It was in the pages of Clarke's book that I first encountered the concept of a telescope in orbit around our planet. This telescope would peer at the universe from well above the interference of the Earth's ever turbulent atmosphere, which relentlessly blurs the view in ground-based telescopes and makes stars twinkle. Ahead of his time, Clarke outlined the advantages of an orbiting telescope compared with a telescope that might, at some future point, be installed on the Moon's surface, as had been suggested decades earlier. "Even the Moon's extremely tenuous atmosphere might affect certain delicate observations," he wrote. "[Moreover,] an observatory in space would be able to survey the complete sphere of the sky." The orbiting scope should even be able to detect planets of nearby stars, enthused Clarke, "something quite out of the question with Earth-based equipment." I couldn't wait! During breaks at my first summer job in the shipping department of a publishing house, I made endless pencil sketches on large sheets of brown paper. I imagined just what the photos from that great eye-in-the-sky would look like--images that would show surface details on the moons of Jupiter, views deep within the core of the globular cluster M13, and so on--until my boss saw what I was up to and cautioned me not to waste any more shipping paper. Today, the orbiting telescope Clarke envisioned is known as the Hubble Space Telescope, and it has been in service since 1990. That telescope has captured stupendous full-color images that depict the subjects of my crude brown-paper sketches and hundreds more of objects I hadn't yet conjured. What a pleasure it has been to select more than 300 of Hubble's best cosmic portraits for this book. While many of these images have never before appeared in print outside scientific journals and research publications, some were released by the Space Telescope Science Institute as recently as spring 2012. All are accompanied by captions and text that will serve as navigational tools as you undertake this breathtaking journey. Hubble's Universe is a celebration of the astonishing achievements of a remarkable discovery machine. Enjoy the excursion! -- Terence Dickinson Excerpted from Hubble's Universe: Greatest Discoveries and Latest Images by Terence Dickinson All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.