This book is about nebulae– massive clouds of cosmic gas and dust set aglow by the borrowed light of stars. In cosmic terms, a nebula is as fleeting as a sunset or a campfire, and to many casual stargazers, just as innately beautiful.
With dozens of stunning, high-resolution images captured by renowned astrophotographer Terry Hancock, as well as easy-to-understand descriptions by Cosmic Pursuits publisher Brian Ventrudo, this book will delight and educate “armchair astronomers” who wish to learn more about the workings of the universe.
The book is available in multi-media format from Apple’s iBooks store, in high-resolution PDF format, and in standard e-book format from Amazon’s Kindle store. Choose the version that works best for you. The pricing of the e-book depends on your country, but in the U.S. it costs just $4.99. That’s less than a fancy cup of coffee in many parts of the world, and this e-book is much more enduring.
Download your preferred version of “The Armchair Astronomer, Vol. 1” below:
This multi-media version comes with the highest-resolution images available at Apple iBooks. Requires an iPad (with iBooks 2 or later and iOS 5 or later), or an iPhone (with iOS 8.4 or later), or a Mac (with OS X 10.9 or later). (Click here for this option…)
Available in Amazon Kindle format for reading on Kindle device or any computer, smart phone, or tablet with the free Kindle app. Images are standard resolution for Kindle. (Click here for this option…)
Also available in PDF format for reading with Adobe Acrobat or similar PDF reader. Includes high-resolution images and text. Pay directly with PayPal or credit card. (Click here for this option… Note: The PDF version is not available in countries of the European Union).
As you read this e-book, you will discover…
• The 18th-century musician who turned to astronomy in search of a new challenge and discovered hundreds of nebulae and other sights in the deep sky beyond our solar system
• What nebulae are made of, and what they can teach us about the birth and death of stars in our galaxy
• The famous Orion Nebula, the nearest cosmic star factory to Earth
• The chess-piece outline of a churning, dark nebula among the bright blue-white stars of Orion’s Belt
• A chain of astonishing star-forming nebulae along the rich band of the Milky Way that are among the most beautiful objects in the night sky
• An “accidental nebula” created by a rogue star that was slingshotted across the galaxy 2 million years ago by a supernova explosion
• A gnarled and glowing shock-wave in the constellation Cygnus that marks the remnants of a star that detonated in prehistoric times
• Glimpses of islands of new stars and glowing nebulae in spiral galaxies tens of millions of light years away
The Armchair Astronomer, Volume 1 is the first in a series of e-books by Cosmic Pursuits that will combine the work of the world’s best astrophotographers with easy-to-understand essays and descriptions to help explain the science of the cosmos. Click on one of the options above to get this e-book from Apple iBooks or Amazon Kindle, or in PDF format.
Here are a few sample pages from the Apple iBooks version of the e-book; all images in these samples are by co-author Terry Hancock:
