A visual celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope on the eve of the final servicing mission by the Space Shuttle offers an illuminating look at the history of the telescope, its controversial early days, the dramatic images it has captured of outer space, and what it has revealed about the origins and history of our own solar system and the universe beyond. 12,500 first printing.
Offers a look at the history of the Hubble telescope, its controversial early days, the dramatic images it has captured of outer space, and what it has revealed about the origins and history of our own solar system and the universe beyond.
In the spirit of National Geographic's top-selling Orbit, this glorious volume tells the full story of the Hubble Space Telescope and showcases hundreds of dramatic deep-space panoramas. We're sped on an astonishing journey to the edge of the known universe - a realm of colliding galaxies, massive baby stars, and mysterious forces that scientists have barely begun to understand. Hubble: Imaging Space and Time reveals, in breathtaking color ... a colossal 50-light-year-wide view of the Carina Nebula, detailing star birth as never before; the violent interplay of galaxies, in which a giant cannibalizes its neighbor; remarkable visual evidence that the universe is expanding - a phenomenon first observed by astronomer Edwin Hubble; important work now underway to set the stage for the Hubble's successor - the new James Webb telescope, scheduled to launch in 2013 on a quest "to the beginning of time."
Respected space historians David DeVorkin and Robert Smith give a fascinating account of this engineering marvel, explaining how the orbiting telescope works and introducing the people - from Galileo to Edwin Hubble to today's foremost astronomers - who have shaped its development. The authors disclose the inside story of Hubble's beginnings, its controversial early days, the drama of its servicing missions, and its role in investigating deeps-pace mysteries such as the force known as "dark energy." Illuminating every discussion are the dynamic, unparalled Hubble images, reaching us across millions of light-years from a time very close to the instant when the universe was born.
In the spirit of National Geographic’s top-selling Orbit, this large-format, full-color volume stands alone in revealing more than 200 of the most spectacular images from the Hubble Space Telescope during its lifetime, to the very eve of the 2008 final shuttle mission to the telescope. Written by two of the world’s foremost authorities on space history, Hubble: Imaging Space and Time illuminates the solar system’s workings, the expansion of the universe, the birth and death of stars, the formation of planetary nebulae, the dynamics of galaxies, and the mysterious force known as "dark energy."
The potential impact of this book cannot be overstressed: The 2008 servicing mission to install new high-powered scientific instruments is especially high profile because the cancellation of the previous mission, in 2004, caused widespread controversy. The authors reveal the inside story of Hubble’s beginnings, its controversial early days, the drama of its first servicing missions, and the creation of the dynamic images that reach into the deepest regions of visible space, close to the time when the universe began.
A wealth of astonishing images leads us to the very edge of known space, setting the stage for the new James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2013. Find the stunning panoramic of Carina Nebula, detailing star birth as never before; a jet from a black hole in one galaxy striking a neighboring galaxy; a jewel-like collection of galaxies from the early years of the universe; and a giant galaxy cannibalizing a smaller galaxy.
Timed for the 2008 shuttle launch and coinciding with the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first telescope, Hubble: Imaging Space and Time accompanies a high-profile exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum and will be featured on the popular NASM website.
