Raman K. Prinja

Gazing into the stars gains meaning and depth as these pages dive into the facts of space and beyond.

This is a well-rounded look at not only the constellations found in the night sky but explains about the stars, galaxies an other aspects of space surrounding them. Starting with tips about star-gazing, the book then gives a brief explanation of the type of stars before heading into the constellations. These concentrate on some of the more known ones (both northern and southern hemisphere) and goes into a bit of depth about the special aspects surrounding each one. The following chapters then give information about planets, moons, meteors, comets, auroras, satellites, galaxies and more. So, there's quite a bit of aspects covered.

I enjoyed to see how clearly the information is brought across, while still remaining interesting. The author never talks down to the reader and never allows a monotone, teaching atmosphere to develop. The information is brought across naturally and adds in little hints on how readers can observe certain aspects themselves. Each page holds short explanations or information broken down around fitting illustrations. Gazing here and there at the different topics allows the eyes to explore and keeps droning info-blocks away. It invites readers to flip through as desired and concentrate on whatever themes interest them the most...and come back later to explore others. The index and glossary at the end of the book also offers assistance in finding certain topics.

The illustrations are well done and work with the text hand-in-hand. Not only do these make details and information understandable, but the colors and artistic style invite in and add a lovely touch of atmosphere. There's also an easy activity at the end of the book, which explores orbits.

This is a very well-done read about stars, space, and more for the middle grade audience. I do see this one not only be of interest to space fans but also useful for homeschoolers or even school libraries. I received an ARC and found the read very well done.… (más)

This gorgeous book features a collection of stunning photographs, most in color, of images of stars, planets, moons, and galaxies from NASA (via the Hubble Space Telescope), the European Space Agency (ESA) via its Mars mission, and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile. It is accompanied by explanatory text beginning with the history of space exploration and how dramatically it has changed with the development of giant telescopes on Earth and observatories in orbit in space.

Chapters include Follow the Water (about the search for habitable worlds beyond our own); Origins (re the birth of stars and galaxies and ripples from the Big Bang); Cosmic Fireworks (novae and quasars, inter alia); Enigmas and Exoticas (including the hunt for dark matter and evidence of the expansion of the universe); and a discussion of what lies ahead for deep space exploration.

The content is illuminating in every sense. This book would make a welcome and educational additional to any “coffee table book” collection.… (más)