Book Review: Your Ticket to the Universe

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Your Ticket to the Universe is full of images and graphics of astronomical wonders.[/caption]

Every once in a while an astronomy book comes out that combines stunning high-definition images from the world's most advanced telescopes, comprehensive descriptions of cosmic objects that are both approachable and easy to understand (but not overly simplistic)

and

a gorgeous layout that makes every page spread visually exciting and enjoyable.

This is one of those books.

Your Ticket to the Universe: A Guide to Exploring the Cosmos

is a wonderful astronomy book by

Kimberly K. Arcand

and

Megan Watzke

, media coordinator and press officer for NASA's

Chandra X-ray Observatory

, respectively. Published by Smithsonian Books, it features 240 pages of gorgeous glossy images from space exploration missions, from the "backyard" of our own Solar System to the more exotic environments found throughout the Galaxy... and even beyond to the very edges of the visible Universe itself.

Find out how you can win a copy of this book

here!

As members of the Chandra team, headquartered at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Kim and Megan have long had firsthand experience with incredible astronomical images -- they previously designed and coordinated the internationally-acclaimed

From Earth to the Universe

and

From Earth to the Solar System

photo installation projects, which helped set up presentations of space exploration images in public locations around the world.

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Your Ticket to the Universe

even features images from some of the most recent missions - like MSL![/caption]

Your Ticket to the Universe

takes such impressive images -- from telescopes and observatories like Hubble, Spitzer, SDO, Chandra, Cassini, GOES, VLT, and many others, as well as from talented photographers on Earth and in orbit aboard the ISS -- and puts them right into your hands, along with in-depth descriptions that are comprehensive yet accessible to even the most casual fans of space exploration.

This is my favorite kind of astronomy book. Although I look at images like the ones in

Your Ticket to the Universe

online every day, there's something special about having them physically in front of you in print -- and well-written text that can be understood by everyone is crucial, in my opinion, as it means a book may very well become an inspiration to a whole new generation of scientists and explorers.

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Author Kimberly K. Arcand holds a copy of her book during a presentation at the

Skyscrapers Astronomical Society of Rhode Island

[/caption]

I've had the pleasure of meeting co-author Kimberly Arcand on several occasions -- I attended high school with her husband -- and her knowledge about astronomy imaging as well as her ability to present it in an understandable way is truly impressive, to say the least. She's quite an enthusiastic ambassador for space exploration, and

Your Ticket to the Universe

only serves to further demonstrate that.

I highly recommend it for anyone who finds our Universe fascinating.

Your Ticket to the Universe

will be available online starting April 2 at Smithsonian Books, or you can pre-order a copy at

Barnes & Noble

or on

Amazon.com

. Don't explore the cosmos without it!