Voyager: 101 Wonders Between Earth and the Edge of the Cosmos

Description

You are about to embark on a journey that will take you to the edge of the Universe and the beginning of time. You will cross 46.5 billion light years of space, exploring 101 celestial wonders ranging from comets to quasars. You will encounter grandeur on an astonishing scale, beauty in the most unexpected places, and the most shocking natural violence. You start here, on Earth, nestled in the Orion Spur of the Milky Way Galaxy, near the centre of the Local Group of galaxies, gravitationally bound to the Virgo Supercluster, but the entire Universe is now yours to explore. You will see sand dunes snaking across the northern plains of Mars, driven by the winds of spring. You will soar above alien cloudscapes of fluorescing gases, and burrow into the secret nests of new stars hidden within. You will watch hypergiant stars tear themselves to pieces and witness the insatiable appetite of supermassive black holes. You will see galaxies collide and superclusters gather like motes of dust on a cosmic web that stretches from one side of the Universe to the other. Your journey is organized into four zones, each representing a distinct cosmic dominion: interplanetary, interstellar, intergalactic and, finally, intertemporal. Each celestial realm is home to its own unique inhabitants, its own cycles of life and death, and each has its own origins, its own ultimate fate. As you move from zone to zone, so the pace of your journey increases. Your first interplanetary steps are measured in mere light seconds, your final strides in the intertemporal zone are measured in giga-light years. Voyager's grand tour of space offers an unrivalled portrait of our cosmic habitat. Quite simply, there is no better way to see the Universe.

Dr Stuart Clark is the author of the critically acclaimed The Sun Kings. A former editor of Astronomy Now, he is Senior Editor for Space Science for the European Space Agency's website and writes for New Scientist, Guardian, The Times and Independent. He lectures and broadcasts widely. His previous books include The Big Questions: The Universe, Deep Space and Galaxy. Stuart is a visiting Fellow of the University of Hertfordshire, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a former vice-chair of the Association of British Science Writers. You can follow him on Twitter @DrStuClark and visit his website at www.stuartclark.com.

"In Clark's capable hands, the wonders of the night sky become delightfully familiar." --Scientific American "Well-researched and very well-written . . . a spry tale full of intrigue, jealousy, spite, dedication and perseverance." --Publishers Weekly on The Sun Kings "An excellent and fast-paced read for anyone interested in astronomy, history, or human drama, as well as important context for understanding some of the reasons Earth's climate changes over time." --BookSlut.com on The Sun Kings "This is popular science history told with rare accuracy and enough intrigue to keep the reader entertained." --Astronomy Now on The Sun Kings "Simply telling the history of scientific solar observations and the beginnings of modern astronomy and making the writing a page-turner would be a difficult feat, but Clark does it superbly." --Choice on The Sun Kings