Cover: The Orion Nebula in HARDCOVER

The Orion Nebula

Where Stars Are Born

Product Details

HARDCOVER

$29.50 • £25.95 • €26.95

ISBN 9780674011830

Publication Date: 10/31/2003

Short

192 pages

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 inches

20 color, 27 halftones

Belknap Press

World

Add to Cart

Media Requests:

Related Subjects

The glowing cloud in Orion’s sword, the Orion Nebula is a thing of beauty in the night sky; it is also the closest center of massive star formation—a stellar nursery that reproduces the conditions in which our own Sun formed some 4.5 billion years ago. The study of the Orion Nebula, focused upon by ever more powerful telescopes from Galileo’s time to our own, clarifies how stars are formed, and how we have come to understand the process. C. Robert O’Dell has spent a lifetime studying Orion, and in this book he explains what the Nebula is, how it shines, its role in giving birth to stars, and the insights it affords into how common (or rare) planet formation might be.

An account of astronomy’s extended engagement with one remarkable celestial object, this book also tells the story of astronomy over the last four centuries. To help readers appreciate the Nebula and its secrets, O’Dell unfolds his tale chronologically, as astrophysical knowledge developed, and our knowledge of the Nebula and the night sky improved.

Because he served as chief scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope, O’Dell conveys a sense of continuity with his professional ancestors as he describes the construction of the world’s most powerful observatory. The result is a rare insider’s view of this observatory—and, from that unique perspective, an intimate observer’s understanding of one of the sky’s most instructive and magnificent objects.

From Our Blog

The Burnout Challenge

On Burnout Today with Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter

In The Burnout Challenge, leading researchers of burnout Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter focus on what occurs when the conditions and requirements set by a workplace are out of sync with the needs of people who work there. These “mismatches,” ranging from work overload to value conflicts, cause both workers and workplaces to suffer