Unsere Augen sind ein Ergebnis der Anpassung an das Sonnenlicht. Die Sonne ist ein Zwergstern, die nur in einem relativ engen Spektralbereich emittiert. Entsprechend wenig sehen wir vom Universum. Wissenschaftlich exakt und trotzdem unterhaltsam zeigen die Autor dieses Bandes auch dem fachlichen Laien, was uns in anderen Bereichen des Spektrums entgeht, von Radiowellen über UV- und Röntgenstrahlung bis zur kosmischen Strahlung. Hervorragende Abbildungen, Infokästen und Diagramme lockern den Text auf und lassen die Fakten anschaulich werden.

Auteur
Lars Lindberg Christensen is press officer of the International Astronomical Union, as well as IAU EC International Year of Astronomy 2009 Working Group Secretary. An astronomer by profession, he is a science communication specialist heading the Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre group, responsible for public outreach and education for the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in Europe. Robert (Bob) Fosbury is an astronomer working for the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of ESA's collaboration with NASA on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) project at ST-ECF. Bob also served on NASA's Ad Hoc Science Working Group and ESA's Study Science Team as they developed the instrument concepts for the James Webb Space Telescope, the next generation space observatory. Bon and Lars wrote the highly successful "Hubble - 15 Years of Discovery". Robert Hurt is professional artist, specialized on art in astronomy.

Texte du rabat
For thousands of years man used little but their eyes to observe and record the light from the stars. This changed dramatically 400 years ago when Galileo first turned his telescope towards the heavens, expanding our ability to see and understand the Universe. Yet for the next 350 years, the potential of this magnificent device was limited merely to the tiny sliver of the spectrum visible to human eyes. Only in the last 50 years or so have a series of technological advances given us access to the hidden Universe: the cosmic domains of radio waves, infrared light, ultraviolet light, X-rays... Layer by layer the cosmic onion has been peeled away to reveal a reality stunningly different from what we thought we knew about a merely visible Universe. This book shows the fundamental change in worldview brought on by expanding our perceptions to cover the full spectrum of light. Hidden Universe is lavishly illustrated. The striking images are hand-picked and partly created by the authors themselves. Boxes and illustrations give an easily accessible overview of processes, telescopes and backgrounds that make this book not only an interesting but an enjoyable and fun read.

Contenu
Foreword by Riccardo Giacconi Preface 1. Light and Vision 2. The View from the Ground 3. Space Observatories 4. The Visible Universe 5. The Infrared Universe 6. The Ultraviolet Universe 7. The Radio & Microwave Universe 8. The X-ray & High Energy Universe 9. The Multi-Wavelength Universe Glossary