Celebrating the Universe: The Spirituality and Science of Stargazing

Description

The very first work of its kind, Celebrating the Universe: The Science & Spirituality of Stargazing is a guide to the wonders of the heavens visible to the unaided eye and in binoculars, with a focus on the 'soul' of the night sky! This travel guide to the stars is written from a metaphysical and spiritual perspective in additional to a scientific one. The unique unifying theme throughout is the personal benefits of communing with celestial wonders firsthand - the joy and heady excitement of participating in the great cosmic drama unfolding nightly overhead. This involves such little-known aspects of stargazing as therapeutic relaxation, celestial meditation, expansion of consciousness, spiritual contact and astral travel. Everything the budding stargazer and celestial pilgrim needs for this cosmic journey is contained within this volume, from how to observe the sky... to what to see - and why! Covered are the Sun, Moon and all of the planets; comets, asteroids, meteors and artificial satellites; variable and exploding stars, colourful double and multiple stars, and glittering star clusters; and eerie glowing nebulae, our majestic Milky Way, and even the remote galaxies. Astronomer and author James Mullaney explores profound concepts such as our heritage as children of the stars (we are made of stardust!) and our cosmic destiny (as citizens of the universe!) - all from an aesthetic viewpoint.

James Mullaney is an astronomy writer and lecturer who has published more than 700 articles and eight books on observing the wonders of the heavens, and logged over 20,000 hours of stargazing time with the unaided eye, binoculars and telescopes. Formerly Curator of the Buhl Planetarium & Institute of Popular Science in Pittsburgh and Director of the DuPont Planetarium, he served as staff astronomer at the University of Pittsburgh's Allegheny Observatory and as an editor for Sky & Telescope magazine. One of the contributors to Carl Sagan's acclaimed Cosmos PBS television series, his work has received recognition over the years from such notables (and fellow stargazers) as Sir Arthur Clarke, Johnny Carson, Ray Bradbury, Dr Wernher von Braun, and former student NASA scientist/astronaut Dr Jay Apt. His 50-year mission as a 'celestial evangelist' has been to 'celebrate the universe!' - to get others to look up at the majesty of the night sky and to personally experience the joys of stargazing. In recognition of his work, he has been elected a Fellow of the prestigious Royal Astronomical Society of London.