The Universe is the ultimate in extremes and superlatives. The biggest. The heaviest. The oldest. The most powerful explosions. Even black holes – which can literally lead to Cosmos regions beyond our infinite Universe! In this truly mind-blowing book, we use cutting edge info graphics to illuminate – in a unique way – the most The infographic amazing places and objects that modern science has laid bare. Starting with the Big Bang itself, we explore the secret lives of and , and examine the book of space thousand new now discovered beyond the Solar System – checking out their viability for alien life.

And we chronicle the incredible instruments and Cosmos machines that are discovering the hidden secrets of the Universe, from ‘telescopes’ deep under the Antarctic ice to robotic explorers on distant worlds. And we investigate the astounding technology used by human astronauts

as they push out beyond the to – and on towards the stars… /

The infographic book of space

UK £25 Stuart Lowe & Chris North ISBN 0-8120-4824-5 Interplanetary missions Ceres 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Space exploration is diffi cult. Since the 1960s there have been over a hundred missions to about 30 different bodies Dawn in the Solar System – and that’s not including the Moon. (21) Lutetia Rosetta Not all have succeeded, with many Vesta early missions to Mars and Venus failing before reaching their destination. Some 103P/Hartley spacecraft have visited more than one Deep Impact object en route. Others, such as Pioneers 10 & 11 and Voyagers 1 & 2, have kept Mars (2867) Šteins on travelling out of the Solar System. 9P/Tempel Stardust By the time you read this, many of the (162173) 1999 JU3 ongoing mission may have reached their Hayabusa 2 destinations: Juno to Jupiter, Akatsuki 81P/Wild to Venus, and Hayabusa 2 to 1999 JU3. (25143) Itokawa Stardust NExT

Hayabusa (5535) Annefrank

(433) Eros

Mercury

CONTOUR

Earth 2P/Encke 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 21P/Giacobini-Zinner 1P/Halley

ICE Chang'e 2

(4179) Toutatis Giotto Deep Space 1

26P/Grigg-Skjellerup

(9969) Braille

Venus Pluto (243) Ida (132524) APL

New Horizons Pioneer 10 19P/Borrelly Galileo

(951) Gaspra Jupiter Voyager 2

Planet / dwarf Uranus Asteroid / comet

Successful missions Failed missions Voyager 1 Pioneer 11 Vega 1 & 2 Ongoing mission Neptune Saturn One / Space exploration 033 Names of asteroids

Themes have been established for naming the features, The names come from all over the world and cover 1900 and rings of the major bodies in the Solar System. a range of sources. As might be expected, many are However, if you discover an asteroid you have the option named after scientists and astronomers (or their 1905 The birth of people with to suggest any name you like for it. The main rule is that friends and family). There are also the names of asteroids named after them. the name must be unique. Of 18,977 named asteroids, mountains, villages, mythological characters, There was a sudden increase catalogued by the Minor Planet Center, 13,290 have citations famous authors, and even the cast of Monty Python. 1910 from 1984 due to US science describing who or what the asteroid is named for. Some asteroid names fall into multiple categories. fairs in the 2000s naming 1915 asteroids after the winners.

Entertainment Sport & Leisure 1920 13070 Seanconnery / Sean Connery (1930) 230975 Rogerfederer / Roger Federer British actor known from the James Bond fi lms. (1981) Swiss tennis player. 1925 13681 Monty Python / Monty Python’s Flying Circus. 6481 Tenzing / Tenzing Norgay 246247 Sheldoncooper / Character on the TV series (1914-1986) Nepalese climber who made 1930 ‘The Big Bang Theory’. the fi rst successful ascent of Everest. 20043 Ellenmacarthur / Ellen Macarthur 1935 (1976) British solo yachtswoman who sailed around the globe. 1940

1945 Friends & Family Of asteroids named after people known Science & Nature 1950 to the discoverer. 1991 Darwin / Charles Darwin 19% are sons (1809 – 1882) English naturalist. 1955 and daughters. 7672 Hawking / Stephen Hawking (1942) 18% are wives Theoretical physicist famous for his work 1960 and husbands. on black holes. 16% are friends. 25275 Jocelynbell / Jocelyn Bell (1943) British astrophysicist who discovered pulsars. 1965 16% are parents. 91006 Fleming / Alexander Fleming 5% are grandchildren. (1881-1955) British biologist & pharmacologist 1970 who discovered penicillin.

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995 Geography 1718 Namibia / The African country. Art & Literature 2000 10958 Mont Blanc / The highest mountain in Europe. 4444 Escher / Maurits C. Escher (1898-1972) Dutch graphic artist. 19620 Auckland / The largest city in New Zealand. 2005 10185 Gaudi / Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) Spanish architect. 2010 39427 Charlottebronte / Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) British novelist and poet. 50 100 150 200

Two / Solar System 063 Sunspots

Time (rows) > 1750 The surface of the Sun is a broiling mass of plasma and magnetic fi elds. Where the magnetic fi eld punches out of the surface, the temperature is kept slightly lower 1760 and less light is produced than elsewhere on the Sun. These darker patches are called sunspots and they come and go over time. The overall number of sunspots 1770 changes over an 11 cycle. 1780

250 sunspots per month 1790

200 1800

1810 100 1820

50 1830 10

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Four / The Sun 107 Giant stars

Our local , the Sun, is roughly 1.4 million kilometres across. That is large – over 100 times the diameter of the Earth – but is tiny compared to many others. One of the contenders for largest known star is UY Scuti, which is found in the southern of Scutum. At an estimated 1,700 times the size of the Sun, it would stretch beyond the orbit of Jupiter if it is placed at the centre of the Solar System.

Rigel A × 78 Peony Star Canopus × 100 × 65

Epsilon Geminorum × 140

Aldebaran × 44

Deneb × 200

The Pistol Star × 300

Arcturus × 25

Alpha Herculis × 460

Betelgeuse × 1,200 Delta Boötis × 10 the Sun

UY Scuti × 1,700

Sun

Five / Stars 129 All known

There are now over 1,800 confi rmed planets orbiting other stars. The number is growing rapidly so will be out-of-date by the time you read this. If we place them all together, to scale, we get an idea what that looks like. The fi rst thing to notice is the number of large planets. This is partly because there really are lots of planets bigger than Jupiter, but also because our planet-hunting techniques fi nd large planets much more easily. As our instruments and techniques improve, we expect to be able to fi nd many more Earth-sized planets.

Transit NY Vir c / 74370 km Pulsar timing Microlensing Direct imaging HD 176051 / 69530 km

HAT-P-32 b / 145240 km

Tau Boo b / 74370 km

25 × Earth diameter

15

5 Earth diameter

OGL-2008-BLG-355L / 74370 km

PZ Tel b / 172560 km

Solar System

Jupiter size / 69,911 km

Eight / Other worlds 185 The Universe is the ultimate in extremes and superlatives. The biggest. The heaviest. The oldest. The most powerful explosions. Even black holes – which can literally lead to regions beyond our infinite Universe!

In this truly mind-blowing book, we use cutting edge infographics to illuminate – in a new a unique way – the most amazing places and objects that modern science has laid bare. Starting with the Big Bang itself, we explore the secret lives of galaxies and stars, and examine the thousand new planets now discovered beyond the Solar System – checking out their viability for alien life.

And we chronicle the incredible instruments and machines are that are discovering the hidden secrets of the Universe, from ‘telescopes’ deep under the Antarctic ice to robotic explorers on distant worlds. And we investigate the astounding technology used by human astronauts as they push out beyond the Moon to Mars – and on towards the stars…

DR STUART LOWE has previously worked at Jodrell Bank Observatory where he helped build astronomical instruments used on radio telescopes in the UK and Poland. At the University of Manchester, he worked on the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite, which was launched in • Innovative and creative 2009 to look at the echoes of the Big Bang. He co-founded designer making the UK’s longest running, regular, astronomy podcast - The inspirational and original Jodcast. More recently he has built web-interfaces that allow everyone, from professional astronomers to school designs children, to observe with the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope network. • Leading authors in their field, with close ties to DR CHRIS NORTH is an astrophysicist at Cardiff University. NASA, as well as various Having worked on a number of experiments and space missions, he is currently part of the Herschel Space space organisations/ Observatory team, looking at far-infrared light from star universities/Star Gazing forming in our and across the Universe. As well as etc. research, Chris is heavily involved in outreach engagement at Cardiff, speaking to teachers, schools, and anyone else who’ll • Infographics have a listen about space and astronomy. He has made regular appearances on BBC Sky at Night for a number of years. strong appeal to the wider buying market Chris and Stuart first met whilst working on the Planck satellite. This led to the development of the popular chromoscope.net project, which allowed people to view the Universe in a whole new light. Their partnership has included websites that enable people to track the lifecycle of stars, design their very own space telescope, and even play with the properties of the cosmos. They can often be found looking for new ways to help people understand the Universe we live in.

For more information please contact Publicity: [email protected] Published: 24/09/2015 Sales: [email protected] ISBN: 9781781314500 Format: Hardback T: 020 7284 9300 RRP: £25.00 www.aurumpress.com Size: 246 x 189 mm facebook.com/aurumpress Extent: 224 pages @aurumpress