Series: Kosmos

Grounded in historical studies of asteroids from the nineteenth century, Asteroids is a fully up to date view of these remarkable objects. Without resorting to any technical plots or mathematics, the author shows that asteroids are not just rocks in space, but key to understanding the life and death on Earth of both animals and humans. From space missions to...

The last of the five naked-eye planets discovered in ancient times, Mercury has long been an elusive, enigmatic world. As seen from the Earth, it never emerges far from the Sun, and astronomers in the telescopic era found it challenging to work out such basic data as its rotation period, the inclination of its axis, and whether or not it...

In this deeply researched chronology, Colin Burgess describes the Soviet Union's extraordinary success in the pioneering years of space exploration. Within a decade, the Soviets not only launched the world's first satellite but were the first to send an animal and a human being into Earth orbit. More than that, their ground-breaking missions sent a woman into space, launched a...

The space race was perhaps the greatest technological contest of the 20th century. It was a thrilling era of innovation, discovery, and exploration, as astronauts and cosmonauts were launched on space missions of increasing length, complexity, and danger. The Greatest Adventure traces the events of this extraordinary period, describing the initial string of Soviet achievements: the first satellite in orbit;...

The most distant planets in our solar system, Uranus and Neptune were unknown by the ancients. Uranus was discovered in the 1780s and Neptune only in the 1840s. Our discovery and observation of both planets have been hampered by their sheer distance from Earth: there has only been one close encounter, the Voyager 2 mission in the late 1980s. The...

This new and beautifully illustrated account of Venus delves into the most recent research about this mysterious, inhospitable world. It examines the history of our observations of the planet, ranging from early astronomy to upcoming space missions. The book seeks to answer several unresolved questions, such as why Venus and Earth, despite being so similar in size and mass, have...

For millennia, solar eclipses have stirred awe and fear. Once seen as omens, they are now celebrated as rare spectacles that unite science and wonder. This accessible, richly illustrated book explores their cultural, emotional and scientific significance, from ancient myths to modern eclipse-chasing expeditions. It traces how eclipses helped unlock secrets of the Sun, and why witnessing one inspires powerful...

Jupiter is the grandest of all planets. It is by far the largest planet in the solar system and among the brightest objects in the night sky, and its calming presence has inspired humans for centuries. Jupiter was the 'beloved star' of the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians, the first serious observers of the planets, and the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft...