Turn Left at Orion: Hundreds of Night Sky Objects to See in a Home Telescope — and How to Find Them

  • Guy Consolmagno &
  • Dan M. Davis
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS: 2019. 256PP. £25.00

The night sky attracts professional and amateur astronomers and the general public alike. But the challenges related to observing with small, amateur telescopes are unique. Guy Consolmagno and Dan Davis’s guide to the night sky with a small telescope is now in its fifth edition and provides extensive information on both how to use and maintain a small telescope and what to observe with it. Including the Moon, the Sun, planets, stars and galaxies, the book offers information on the objects themselves, how to find them on the sky and what to look for once you’ve found them.

The Cosmic Mystery Tour: A High-Speed Journey Through Space & Time

  • Nicholas Mee
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS: 2019. 224PP. £16.99

Science has been an ongoing struggle of trying to understand how things work, from the subatomic scale to the scales of galaxies. Nicholas Mee takes readers on a tour of a collection of different but equally exciting discoveries in physics and astronomy. Chapters are short, sometimes a page or less long. The book also includes anecdotes and trivia about some of the scientists that left their mark on a specific topic and many figures and photos that make for an easy and entertaining read. Mee’s book is an ideal introduction to the physics of the Universe — no previous knowledge required.

The Sun Today

  • Claudio Vita-Finzi
SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING: 2018. XI, 111PP. £9.99

The Sun has always been a central topic of astronomical and astrophysical research — there are currently two new missions underway, ESA’s Solar Orbiter and NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. The closest star to Earth, it provides important insights about stellar astrophysics ranging from stars' atmospheres, to their surfaces and their interiors. Claudio Vita-Finzi’s book aims to provide a concise picture of what we know about the Sun today. Aiming at a scientifically literate audience, at the end of each chapter there are extensive references for the interested reader to delve deeper into each topic.

War in Space: The Science and Technology Behind Our Next Theater of Conflict

  • Linda Dawson
SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING: 2018. IX, 206PP. £22.99

‘NewSpace’ — the privatized race for faster, better and cheaper access to space — reveals a ‘new’ theatre of war for conflicts to be played out. War in space, however, has preoccupied governments at least since the golden age of space exploration (from 1957 onwards). Linda Dawson investigates how science and technology, including space capabilities (missiles, satellites and so on) but also space flight repercussions (such as space debris), relate to the idea of war in space. The book includes chapters on the space policy of major space agencies and the relationship between military and civilian space.