Hubble: The Mirror on the Universe [Hardcover]

The author, Robin Kerrod, an astronomer and accomplished astronomy writer, states in this book's preface the following:

"This book reveals the wonderful, mysterious, and awesome universe of ours...You don't have to be an astronomer to appreciate the...breathtakingly, hauntingly beautiful [colour] images [or pictures], which chronicle frozen moments in the life of the cosmos [or universe]--from the Martian dust storms to...planetary systems [other than our own]; from the birth pangs of young stars to the death throes of ancient ones; from [a very high rate of star formation] in neighbouring galaxies to catastrophic collisions in remote [galaxies]."

Thus, it is the visually stunning and dramatic images that grace all of the 190 pages of this book (published in October 2003) that make it so remarkable. I counted approximately 300 images. Note that of these, about 25 are non-space pictures. My favourite non-space picture is a cutaway diagram of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) that shows its essential features. Each image or picture is accompanied by an excellent description of what's going on in the picture.

This book's title implies that all the space images have come from the HST (named after the foremost U.S. astronomer Edwin Hubble, 1889-1953). Actually, as the picture credits section reveals, the majority of this book's space images do come from the HST but a small minority of them come from other sources such as Earth-based observatories, artificial satellites (for example, the COsmic Background Explorer or COBE), and space probes (such as Voyager 2).

This book is divided into six chapters that deal respectively with star birth, star death, galaxies, the expanding universe, solar systems, and our solar system's planets. The appropriate pictures are put into each chapter. For example, the first chapter on star birth contains about 35 pictures that deal with star birth.

This is not only a picture book! This book also gives an overview of astronomy. That is, each chapter is accompanied by text that is concise, comprehensive, and well-written. I learned much from the combination of Kerrod's lucid text and the magnificant pictures.

This book also has a seventh section that is divided into two parts. The first part explains details about telescopes in general while the second part discusses details about the HST in particular. Both parts include informative pictures.

What significant space event occurred in 1957? When was the HST put into orbit? The answers to these and other similar questions can be found in the section called "Landmarks in Astronomy." This section lists major astronomical landmarks that occurred between 585 BC and 2010 AD.

Need to find the definition of an astronomical/space/telescope term in a hurry? Then use this book's "Glossary of Terms." Such recent terms as "COSTAR", "proplyd", and "WIMP" are given excellent, concise definitions.

There are two obvious problems I found with this book. First, the text on page 162 is duplicated on page 168. Second, there are no references/notes for the book's text. Some of this text information is very recent and very factual. Thus, it seems to me that this information should be properly referenced. All of the pictures, however, do give credit to their sources.

In conclusion, if you want to learn about the universe and see its glorious wonders, then don't go out and buy an expensive telescope or pay the very large amount to be a tourist on the next Space Shuttle flight. Instead, get this relatively inexpensive book and have the universe at your fingertips!!!

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