Gamma ray astronomy, the branch of high energy astrophysics that studies the sky in energetic ?-ray photons, is destined to play a crucial role in the exploration of nonthermal phenomena in the Universe in their most extreme and violent forms. The great potential of this discipline offers impressive coverage of many OC hot topicsOCO of modern astrophysics and cosmology, such as the origin of galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays, particle acceleration and radiation processes under extreme astrophysical conditions, and the search for dark matter."

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on the Cosmological Background Radiation, Strasbourg, France, May 27-June 7, 1996

This is the story of the cosmic background radiation, the "afterglow" of the Big Bang in which the Universe was born. Fifteen billion years after the event, the afterglow still permeates all of space, making it the oldest relic in creation and providing an imprint of the Universe as it was in its infancy. But the most astonishing thing about the afterglow of creation is that it wasn't discovered until 1965, and then only by accident - despite the fact that it had been predicted in 1948 and the technology to detect it existed during World War II. Chown brilliantly weaves a tale of the search for the origins of the Universe. Beginning in the 1920s and culminating with the flight of the COBE satellite and what it found, this book uncovers the secrets of the Universe.

Throughout history, the mysterious dark skies above us have inspired our imaginations in countless ways, influencing our endeavours in science and philosophy, religion, literature and art. Heavenly Treasures is a truly beautiful book showing the richness of astronomical theories and illustrations in Western civilization through the ages, exploring their evolution, and comparing ancient and modern throughout. From Greek verse, mediaeval manuscripts and Victorian poetry to spacecraft photographs and computer-generated star charts, the unprecedented wealth of these portrayals is quite breathtaking.

Infrared astronomy has undergone an enormous revolution during the last decade. Despite the great technical difficulties of building detectors in a cryogenic environment, the scientific advances in infrared astronomy have been astounding. In the near future many more advances can be expected from still newer developments in telescope and detector designs. High quality detector arrays and passively cooled telescopes are very promising techniques for achieving considerably larger apertures. This volume contains the refereed papers from the workshop on 'Next Generation Infrared Observatory', dealing with all new aspects of future infrared telescopes.