"... a tour through the most influential images in science"--Jacket.

* Certain key images embody our understanding of life and the universe we inhabit. Some, like Robert Hooke's first microscopic views of the natural world, or the stunning images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, were made possible by our new technical capabilities. * Others, like the first graph, were breathtakingly simple but perennially useful. Vesalius's haunting pictures of the human anatomy were nothing less than works of art, while the simple diagram now known as Pythagoras' Theorem - proved by the ancient Babylonians, Chinese, Indians and Egyptians long before the Greeks themselves - lay the foundations for modern mathematics. * Many of these images have shattered our preconceptions about the limits and nature of existence: the first breathtaking pictures of the Earth from space stimulated an environmental consciousness that has grown ever since; the mushroom cloud from atomic and nuclear explosions became the ultimate symbol of death and destruction; the flying saucer came to represent the possibility of extraterrestrial life; while Mercator's flat map of the Earth coordinated an entire world-view. * Cosmic Imagery takes us on a tour through the most influential images in science. Each holds an important place in the growth of human understanding and carries with it a story that illuminates its origin and meaning. Together they reveal something of the beauty and truth of the universe, and why, so often, a picture is better than a thousand words.

Certain key images embody our understanding of life and the universe we inhabit. Some, like Robert Hooke's first microscopic views of the natural world, or the stunning images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, were made possible by our new technical capabilities. Others, like the first graph, were breathtakingly simple but perennially useful. Vesalius' haunting pictures of the human anatomy were nothing less than works of art, while the simple diagram now known as Pythagoras' Theorem - proved by the ancient Babylonians, Chinese, Indians and Egyptians long before the Greeks themselves - lay the foundations for modern mathematics. Many of these images have shattered our preconceptions about the limits and nature of existence- the first breathtaking pictures of the Earth from space stimulated an environmental consciousness that has grown ever since; the mushroom cloud from atomic and nuclear explosions became the ultimate symbol of death and destruction; the flying saucer came to represent the possibility of extraterrestrial life; while Mercator's flat map of the Earth coordinated an entire world-view. Cosmic Imagery takes us on a tour through the most influential images in science. Each holds an important place in the growth of human understanding and carries with it a story that illuminates its origin and meaning. Together they reveal something of the beauty and truth of the universe, and why, so often, a picture is better than a thousand words.

In the rapidly changing world of the early Middle Ages, depictions of the cosmos represented a consistent point of reference across the three dominant states--the Frankish, Byzantine, and Islamic Empires. As these empires diverged from their Greco-Roman roots between 700 and 1000 A.D. and established distinctive medieval artistic traditions, cosmic imagery created a web of visual continuity, though local meanings of these images varied greatly. Benjamin Anderson uses thrones, tables, mantles, frescoes, and manuscripts to show how cosmological motifs informed relationships between individuals, especially the ruling elite, and communities, demonstrating how domestic and global politics informed the production and reception of these depictions. The first book to consider such imagery across the dramatically diverse cultures of Western Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic Middle East, Cosmos and Community in Early Medieval Art illuminates the distinctions between the cosmological art of these three cultural spheres, and reasserts the centrality of astronomical imagery to the study of art history.

At the end of a star's life, it wraps itself in a cocoon by spilling out gas and dust. Sometime later, a butterfly-like nebula emerges from the cocoon and develops into a planetary nebula. They are among the most beautiful of the celestial objects imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. Their structures, like bubbles floating in the void, are complemented by a kaleidoscope of colour emitted by glowing gases. Delicate, lacelike, streamers of gas add to their complexity. The production of a planetary nebula by a star is a milestone in the life of a star, an event that foretells the doom of the star when its central energy source runs out. In this book, Sun Kwok tells the story of the discovery process of the creation of planetary nebulae and of the future of the Sun. Full colour illustrations are included throughout the book.

Picturing the Cosmos elucidates the complex relationship between visual propaganda and censorship in the Soviet Union in the Cold War period, focusing on the 1950s and 1960s. Drawing from a comprehensive corpus of rarely seen photographs and other visual phenomena narrating the Soviet Union's 1957 victory in the 'Race for Space', the author illustrates the media's role in cementing the way for Communism whilst retaining top-secret information. Each photo is examined as a deliberate, functioning part of a specific political, ideological and historical situation that helped to anchor the otherwise abstract political and intellectual concepts of the future and modernization.

Blood moon fever is sweeping America and the events of 2014 and 2015 are upon us! Do these unusual solar and lunar eclipses on Jewish Feast Days have special meaning? Will big events affecting Israel occur starting in 2014? Biltz, the original discoverer and recognized top expert on the coming tetrads of blood moons explains the importance of these looming events in light of bible prophecy.