Bonus Content
Cosmos Close-Up
Using high-resolution images collected by a fleet of telescopes, satellites, and interplanetary probes, Giles Sparrow takes us on an unforgettable voyage across the universe in Cosmos Close-Up. Hundreds of panoramic color photographs are positioned next to close-up photos that reveal details of specific regions; Sparrow’s accessible text describes the science behind all the images.
The book is divided into four sections, focusing on:
• Our solar system. This section includes an ultraviolet view of the Sun taken by the TRACE satellite, with jets of hot gas forming the majestic loops called prominences. It’s accompanied by a close-up shot from the Swedish Solar Telescope of the Sun’s visible surface resolved into flame-like pillars or “speckles,” thousands of miles long.
• The Milky Way galaxy. A magnificent shot of the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372), whose glowing gas and dust illuminates a host of interesting features. One of them, spotlighted in a close-up shot on the same page, is the “Caterpillar,” an elongated dark cloud roughly one light year across and containing at least one nascent star.
• Other galaxies and clusters. The largest and brightest of a dozen or so small galaxies in orbit around our own is the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), seen in a panoramic shot; the LMC’s prominent feature is the Tarantula Nebula, which extends 650 light years across and is a spectacular region of star formation.
• The depths of the cosmos. The galaxy cluster Abell 1689 exhibits the phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, in which the gravity of nearer galaxies warps the light of farther ones into bright arcs. A close-up shot zooms in one of those arcs and reveals the hot gas between the galaxies that contributes to the lensing effect.
Including striking images of everything from Titan to the Virgo Cluster, Cosmos Close-Up zooms in on our universe in a fresh and innovative way.
Hardcover : 320 pages
Publisher: Firefly Books Ltd. ( September 01, 2011 )
Item #: 13-419769
ISBN: 9781554078912
Product Dimensions: 7.25 x 9.5 inches
Product Weight: 43.0 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Copyright © Bookspan. Scientific American® is a registered trademark, used under license. Unauthorized use prohibited. All rights reserved.
45007201205ADFL
Card Security Code
The card security code is an added safeguard for your credit/debit card purchases. Depending on the type of card you use, it is either a three- or four-digit number printed on the back or front of your credit/debit card, separate from your credit/debit card number. To make shopping at Scientific American Book Club® even more secure, we require that you enter this number each time you make a credit/debit card purchase. Please note that your security code will not be stored with us even if you have saved your credit/debit card information.
