The Universe and Beyond - Softcover

This is the best book of its type I have ever seen -- not really a textbook, despite its accurate coverage of the most interesting parts of modern astronomy, but not just a coffee table book either, although it is superbly designed, illustrated and produced. It is something in between and marvelous.... Presented with an almost magical combination of authority, wonder, and love.--Science Books and Films Astronomer Terence Dickinson presents the state of current knowledge and theory about the universe in accessible form.--Washington Post As always, Dickinson's clear style brings cosmology and astrophysics within the grasp of the lay reader.--Library Journal (05/01/2003)

Award-winning astronomy writer Terence Dickinson takes readers on a factual journey in space and time from the Earth's surface to the most remote boundaries of the universe - and beyond. This major revision of an astronomy classic features 50 new photographs and illustrations, including the latest images from the Hubble space telescope, the Galileo spacecraft and other NASA missions. Additional imagery of the universe is from recently completed giant telescopes situated at remote mountaintops in Hawaii and Chile. This edition also includes extensively updated information on Mars and Jupiter; a completely new section on comets; full coverage of the latest evidence for the existence of black holes; an expanded section on galaxies and the mysterious "dark matter"; a fully updated section on the size, age and destiny of the universe; and expanded data tables using information released in 1998 from the Hipparchos satellite, which achieved a tenfold increase in the accuracy of celestial distance determination.