Beyond the range of optical perception--and of ordinary imaginings--a new and violent universe lay undetected until the advent of space exploration. Supernovae, black holes, quasars and pulsars--these were the secrets of the highenergy world revealed when, for the first time, astronomers attached their instruments to rockets and lofted them beyond the earth's x-ray-absorbing atmosphere.

The X-Ray Universe is the story of these explorations and the fantastic new science they brought into being. It is a first-hand account: Riccardo Giacconi is one of the principal pioneers of the field, and Wallace Tucker is a theorist who worked closely with him at many critical periods.

The book carries the reader from the early days of the Naval Research Laboratory through the era of V-2 rocketry, Sputnik, and the birth of NASA, to the launching of the Einstein X-Ray Observatory. But this is by no means just a history. Behind the suspenseful, sometimes humorous details of human personality grappling with high technology lies a sophisticated exposition of current cosmology and astrophysics, from the rise and fall of the steady-state theory to the search for the missing mass of the universe.

Galaxies are among nature's most aweinspiring and beautifully formed objects. In this highly informative and lucidly written book, Paul Hodge seeks to demystify galaxies and to examine closely our present-day knowledge of these magnificent star systems.

Hodge brings a historical perspective to his discussion of galactic research. He presents a summary of the revolutionary discoveries of the last decade, and he shows how they have contributed to our understanding of the nature and composition of the universe. Whereas previously perhaps a dozen astronomers devoted themselves to galaxy research, using two or three large telescopes, now hundreds of scientists are penetrating the mystery of the galactic world. This intensified research has yielded ground-breaking results: we are beginning to understand the enigmatic properties of the highly luminous yet relatively small quasars; we have a clearer understanding of the processes that generate spiral arms; we have a good idea of how different types of galaxies evolve; and we continue to grapple with the problem of the missing mass that is greater than anything detectable in the visible part of the galaxies.

, This book succeeds in making the immense and remote universe of galaxies much more accessible to our imagination. It also conveys the excitement and wonder of this rapidly changing area of scientific inquiry. Enriched by numerous illustrations and written in an engaging style, Galaxies offers a nontechnical yet intelligent approach to the concepts and results of modern galactic research.

--Spokes and braids in the rings of Saturn

--Eddying currents around Jupiter's Great Red Spot

--Volcanic eruptions on the satellite Io

These are the images from Voyager that have made headlines and captured the public imagination. Now, a giant of twentieth century astronomy guides us on a literary voyage of discovery that retraces the steps of this and other recent space probes--Viking, Mariner, Pioneer, as well as Russian efforts--that have revolutionized our understanding of Earth's nearest neighbors. Every step of the way, Fred Whipple provides the basic foundation in astronomy that enables the reader to be not merely awed and entranced but thoroughly informed, with a solid and satisfying understanding of the workings of our solar system.

In a dazzling combination of text and illustrations, Orbiting the Sun offers vistas that rival science fiction:

--mountains on Mars twice the height of Everest

--thunderstorms and sulfuric acid clouds on Venus

--the possibility of liquid nitrogen oceans on Titan

But the author also explores in precise detail the tests carried out by the Viking Lander that with virtual certainty have ruled out the hope of finding life on Mars.

This completely revised and updated edition of Whipple's classic Earth, Moon, and Planets once again presents Earth within its planetary context. This view allows us to speculate on such provocative concepts as the connection between an asteroid collision and the extinction of the dinosaurs. But the most obvious enhancement of this new edition is the stunning photographs, that include the eerie panorama of the Martian landscape taken from the Viking Landers, the dramatic sweep of Saturn's thousand rings, and full color port raits of the Jovian moons--the battered face of Callisto, Europa with its web of thin scratches, the "superhighways" of Ganymede, and Io with its volcanic plumes.

Fred Whipple has introduced two generations of student and amateur astronomers to the wonders of the solar system. In Orbiting the Sun he will charm and inform an entirely new audience.