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Description
With a fleet of telescopes in space and giant observatories on the ground, professional astronomers produce hundreds of spectacular images of space every year. These colorful pictures have become infused into popular culture and can found everywhere, from advertising to television shows to memes. But they also invite questions: Is this what outer space really looks like? Are the colors real? And how do these images get from the stars to our screens?
Coloring the Universe uses accessible language to describe how these giant telescopes work, what scientists learn with them, and how they are used to make color images. It talks about how otherwise un-seeable rays, such as radio waves, infrared light, X-rays, and gamma rays, are turned into recognizable colors. And it is filled with fantastic images taken in far-away pockets of the universe. Informative and beautiful, Coloring the Universe will give space fans of all levels an insider’s look at how scientists bring deep space into brilliant focus.
About the Author
Travis A. Rector is professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He has created over two hundred images with the giant telescopes at Gemini Observatory, Kitt Peak National Observatory, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and others.
Kimberly Kowal Arcand directs visualization efforts for NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, at the Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Megan Watzke is the public affairs officer for the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Praise For…
“In an era when NASA’s vast photographic archive is a click away and even the Curiosity Rover is on Instagram, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that photographing the cosmos is an amazing achievement and a complex process. Travis Rector reminds us of this in his excellent book, Coloring the Universe. Rector is an astronomer and an expert on the topic; he’s used everything from the Hubble Space Telescope to the Very Large Array to make more than 250 photos during the past two decades. He and his co-authors, Kim Arcand and Megan Watzke of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, bring a photographer’s sensibility to the book, explaining just how NASA made some of the stunning photos we too often take for granted.”
— Wired
“The winning astronomy book to get for anyone who loves and also is curious about the most beautiful images of the Universe, plus what they mean, is Coloring the Universe. With each image you look at after reading it, as well as images that you think back on that you’ve seen before, you’ll wind up seeing more, not less, than you ever saw before. It’s not just a beautiful glimpse into the Universe; it’s a peek behind-the-scenes at how astronomers are creatively and artistically enabling humanity to see the full extent of what’s present.”
— Ethan Siegel
“What singles this book out is how it lifts the curtain on the processes by which these spectacular images are made. There are explanations of the astrophysics of celestial objects, how telescopes and cameras capture and record light, as well as the software techniques used to create these striking images. . . . After reading it you’ll probably never look at an astronomy image in quite the same way again.”
— Book of the Month
"Few things in life are more vibrant, more beautiful and more majestic than images of space. Thankfully, Coloring the Universepresents everything from nebulae, supernovas, distant galaxies and beyond in one jaw-dropping book."
— Chicago Tribune
"Fascinating, beautiful, and educational. . . . Few things in life are more vibrant, more beautiful and more majestic than images of space. Thankfully, Coloring the Universe presents everything from nebulas, supernovas, distant galaxies and beyond in one jaw-dropping book."
— South China Morning Post