Eyes in the Sky
Andrew May, edited by Brian Clegg Icon Books £10.99 PB
Eyes in the Sky: Space Telescopes from Hubble to Webb isn’t really a just title for this cute little book. Yes, it’s all about space telescopes, but over six chapters the author covers most of the electromagnetic spectrum, not just the regions that Hubble and Webb span. In 150 pages, the reader is taken on a voyage through successive generations of telescopes designed to study everything from the cosmic microwave background, which includes COBE, WMAP and Planck, to the planet hunters TESS and Kepler.
Given the compact nature of Eyes in the Sky, it’s a quick read and clearly designed to prompt the reader to further investigation. The book explores the tremendous science contributions of 15 telescopes, starting with perhaps the most famous of them all: the Hubble Space Telescope. As the story evolves, May touches on the most exciting discoveries in astrophysics and cosmology in the last few decades, covering the life cycle of stars, the structure of galaxies and the evolution of the Universe.
The author nicely describes the instruments that feature on each telescope, their purpose and the reasons behind the odd naming conventions. In places some of the descriptions of key ideas are too brief, and the final chapter on future telescopes does not do justice to the excitement of planned missions over the next decade. However, the writing is accessible and engaging, and will no doubt spark the imagination of any space enthusiast. ★★★★★
Laura Nuttall is a Future Leaders fellow at the University of Portsmouth