The Planets

July 3, 2017
Nataraj (Earth and Space) returns with another gorgeous photographic tour of space, this time featuring 200 sharp photos of planets, moons, and comets in our solar system, collected from over 40 years worth of material housed in NASA’s archives. The intricately detailed color and black-and-white photos include panoramas, ultraviolet and infrared images, and close-ups. False color in some images enhances the view of mineral deposits or storm systems. A brief caption with each photo describes notable features, geological or meteorological discoveries made from the image, and the spacecraft or telescope that took it. Particularly noteworthy are the photos of multicolored jet streams forming Saturn’s enigmatic hexagon, a humbling photo of the transit of Venus across the turbulent sun, and a shot of Pluto’s enormous heart-shaped plain. The collection is a remarkable reminder of how much has been learned about the planets over the past few decades, solving many mysteries yet introducing many more. Color photos.

January 1, 2018

Narrated by award-winning author Nataraj (Earth and Space) and including a foreword by scientist Bill Nye, this extraordinary journey of the solar system consists of more than 200 photographs from the archives of NASA and images of all eight planets and other major objects in the solar system, including the sun, asteroids, comets, and dwarf planets. These striking, detailed images are enhanced through a variety of photographic techniques, such as filtering, color enhancement, false color radar, and computer generated imagery. As a result, their clarity reveals such features as lava flows on Venus, the canyons of Mars, ice on Jupiter's moon Europa, and the mountain ranges of Pluto. Among the other photographic high points are the surface of the moon taken from Apollo 11, panoramic views of Mars from the Mars Rover, and the rare transit of Venus across the face of the sun in 2013. Included is a brief history of planetary discovery and the NASA missions that were instrumental in acquiring the current information about the solar system. VERDICT Recommended for anyone interested in astronomy, space exploration, or photography.--Dave Pugl, Ela Area P.L., Lake Zurich, IL

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.