Astronomy: Find Books

West

Downtown, Northwest, West
also available as an ebook

With lucid prose that recalls the best-selling and beloved Cosmos, Ann Druyan takes readers on an extraordinary journey through the vast and unexplored realms of Earth and space, past and future, fact and imagination. Written and published in coordination with the sensational international television debut of a second season of National Geographic's Cosmos,Cosmos Possible Worlds travels through more than 14 billion years of cosmic evolution and into an astonishing future where probes travel by light beams to distant stars, helping us solve enduring mysteries of our origins and dream of an unimaginable time ahead. Along the way, we meet the colorful characters who push beyond the boundaries of knowledge - both the little-known but monumental visionaries of the past and the scientists whose work is shaping our future. Color photographs, art, and diagrams based on graphics created for the television series - plus a foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson, best-selling author, wildly popular science commentator, and host of Cosmos on the National Geographic Channel - complete this highly anticipated package.

2020 Guide to the Night Sky is the ideal resource for novices and experienced amateurs in the United States and Canada, and has been updated to include 16 more pages of even more new and practical information covering events to occur in North America's night sky throughout 2020. The book has all of the guidance, information and data that skywatchers need. Astrotourism -- Aurora borealis has long influenced a decision to visit a location (e.g., Iceland, Alaska, northern Canada) but now we know that major celestial events, exceptional viewing sites and even world-leading telescopes are drawing travelers to the extent that it needed a name: astrotourism. The book includes new charts with helpful information about the best times and places to travel, such as a tour or cruise. The hospitality industry has seen strong growth linked to astronomical events and to stargazing destinations. More than 50,000 Airbnb guests from 26 countries visited the US for the 2017 solar eclipse, and there were nearly 3000 private homes offering telescopes for viewing. As space probes, including the seemingly immortal Hubble Telescope, take our cameras to worlds farther and farther away, even to Mars, we want to see as much of it as possible. Observatory tours are increasing, such as visits to the world's largest telescope, the Gran Telescopio Canarias in Spain. 2020 Guide to the Night Sky is organized by month and provides lunar phases, planet activity, constellation maps and tables of planet and star movement, and sky activity and events. Each month has all of the compass points, dates and exact times to view the planets. There are also monthly constellation maps with dates, times and hourly rates of comets, fireballs, and meteor showers. Skywatchers in the United States and Canada won't miss a thing. Even with just binoculars. Amateur astronomers have come to rely upon and expect each year's edition of this proven sell-through title. It is the handy reference they grab as they head out to do some skywatching, and now they can use it to plan an astrovacation.