Galactic Encounters: Our Majestic and Evolving Star-system, from the Big Bang to Time's End

The book is intended as a rich introduction to the wonders of the Galaxy. It is intended for anyone interested in the geography, beauty, and significance of our home star-system which is perhaps (along with the human brain itself) the grandest single structure the human mind can comprehend. Though scientifically informed and up-to-date (Dr. Conselice is a leading researcher) the text can be appreciated by the general reader (Dr. Sheehan is an accomplished writer and historian of astronomy and Julian Baum an award-winning illustrator). By taking a historical approach and emphasizing the colorful personalities who pioneered the understanding of the Galaxy, we hope to make what otherwise might be regarded as rather complex subject matter more easily accessible; the illustrations will include maps showing the different levels of galactic structure from the Sun to the whole star-system produced especially for this book by master-illustrator Julian Baum, which will make this book a work of art that can be appreciated in terms of the sheer haunting beauty of its images, like Timothy Ferris's best-selling Galaxies, published in 1980. Rather than presenting a static picture of the Galaxy, the authors present a dynamic picture of the Galaxy as an evolving, almost-living, entity, and the science thereof as a quintessentially human activity involving curiosity, ingenuity, and soaring inspiration. The book will satisfy the need of its readers to see the "Big Picture" in a world overwhelmed with the sheer volume - and fragmentation - of information. Few "Big Pictures" are bigger than that which frames the present subject.

William Sheehan is an American astronomical historian and writer, who has written the authoritative (and much-acclaimed) biography of Milky Way photographer and pioneering astronomer E. E. Barnard, The Immortal Fire Within (Cambridge University Press, 1995). A regular scholar-in-residence at leading observatories including Yerkes, Lick, Lowell, and Mt. Wilson, he is currently working on a biography of stellar spectroscopist and galaxy morphologist W. W. Morgan, who discovered the spiral-arm structure of the Milky Way in 1951. As a professional psychiatrist as well as an astronomer, he has a unique insight into the personalities of the pioneering figures of the history of science. He has published a number of books on the history of Solar System studies, especially on the Moon and Mars, and is a consulting editor of Sky & Telescope, a 2001 fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (for his research on the Milky Way), recipient of the Gold Medal of the Oriental Astronomical Association (the first Caucasian to receive that award), etc., etc. Asteroid no. 16037 is named in his honor (Sheehan).Christopher Conselice, an astronomer at the University of Nottingham,is one of the world's leading experts on galaxy formation andevolution. He was educated at the University of Chicago and theUniversity of Wisconson-Madison, and has held post-doctoral positionsat the California Institute of Technology and the Space TelescopeScience Institute. He was a regular contributor to Mercury, themagazine of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. He has publishedhis research in the leading professional journals of astronomy,including Science, Nature, and the Astrophysical Journal.Julian Baum is one of the worlda€?s most highly regarded astronomical artists. His work was featured in Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest, The Guide to the Galaxy. He lives in Chester, England.