Eyes On The Sky: A Spectrum Of Telescopes

Product Description

Four centuries ago Galileo first turned a telescope to look up at the night sky His discoveries opened the cosmos revealing the geometry & dynamics of the solar system Today's telescopic equipment stretching over the whole spectrum from visible light to radio & millimetre astronomy through infrared to ultraviolet X-rays & gamma rays has again transformed our understanding of the whole Universe In this book Francis Graham-Smith explains how this technology can be engaged to give us a more in-depth picture of the nature of the universe Looking at both ground-based telescopes & telescopes on spacecraft he analyses their major discoveries from planets & pulsars to cosmology Large research teams & massive data handling are necessary but the excitement of discovery is increasingly shared by a growing public who can even join in some of the analysis by remote computer techniques Observational astronomy has become international All major projects are now partnerships; most notably the Square Kilometre Array which will involve astronomers from over 100 countries & will physically exist in several of them Covering the history & development of telescopes from Galileo to the present day Eyes on the Sky traces what happens when humankind looks up