Smithsonian Books Releases "Chandra’s Cosmos"

Illustrated Overview of X-ray Observatory’s Findings Available March 28
March 28, 2017
News Release
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Book cover "Chandra's Cosmos"

Smithsonian Books is releasing Chandra’s Cosmos: Dark Matter, Black Holes, and Other Wonders Revealed by NASA’s Premier X-ray Observatory, a book about the most powerful X-ray telescope ever built. Since its launch July 23, 1999, aboard the space shuttle Columbia, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has provided spectacular visions of the universe largely hidden from telescopes sensitive only to visible light. In Chandra’s Cosmos, Wallace H. Tucker, science spokesperson for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center, narrates the orbiting space telescope’s exploration of the incredible phenomena in the universe.

The book is organized in three parts: “The Big,” covering the cosmic web, dark energy, dark matter and massive clusters of galaxies; “The Bad,” exploring neutron stars, stellar black holes and supermassive black holes; and “The Beautiful,” discussing stars, exoplanets and life. Dozens of color photographs, layering images recorded by Chandra and data from other path-breaking telescopes, present new views of the cosmos.

From Chandra’s imaging of the glowing remains of supernovas to its observation of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way and its tracing of the separation of dark matter from normal matter as huge galaxies collide at unimaginable speeds, the book explores the full implications of the telescope’s discoveries while its illustrations bring them to life. This is space as it has never been seen before.

About the Author

Tucker is the science spokesperson for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center. He is the author of numerous papers and seven books, including Revealing the Universe.

About the Book

Title: Chandra’s Cosmos
Authors: Wallace Tucker
On-Sale Date: 3/28/17
Price: $29.95 / Pages: 266
ISBN: 978-1-58834-587-5
Smithsonian Books

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SI-175-2016