Coloring the Universe: An Insider's Look at Making Spectacular Images of Space

by Travis Rector, Kimberly K. Arcand, Megan Watzke

With a fleet of telescopes in space and giant observatories on the ground, professional astronomers produce hundreds of spectacular images of space every year. These colorful pictures have become infused into popular culture and can found everywhere, from advertising to television shows to memes. But they also invite questions: Is this what outer space really looks like? Are the colors real? And how do these images get from the stars to our screens?

Coloring the Universe uses accessible language to describe how these giant telescopes work, what scientists learn with them, and how they are used to make color images. It talks about how otherwise un-seeable rays, such as radio waves, infrared light, X-rays, and gamma rays, are turned into recognizable colors. And it is filled with fantastic images taken in far-away pockets of the universe. Informative and beautiful, Coloring the Universe will give space fans of all levels an insider’s look at how scientists bring deep space into brilliant focus.

Genres: Science, Space, Nonfiction, Astronomy, Photography

250 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2015

About the author

Dr. Travis A. Rector is an astronomer at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). In the last 20 years he has made over 200 beautiful images of space using the giant telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Gemini Observatory, and others (including Hubble). Dr. Rector earned a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Colorado. He was then a postdoctoral research scientist at Kitt Peak and a Karl Jansky fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in New Mexico. He joined the physics and astronomy department at UAA in 2003.

Reviews

[Trey Piepmeier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard about this book from The Planetary Society.

It's a fantastically interesting explanation of what "real" means in space images and along with that what color means (in any photography) and how it's captured and reproduced in any digital camera.

Not only is it a big and beautiful book (one of the reasons it took me so long to read was that it's not at all portable), it changed my perspective on the universe around me.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Astrophotography is a hobby of mine and so this book caught my eye. It's not a "how to" book but rather a brief introduction to astrophotography from the point of view of a professional astronomer. Their goals are somewhat different than mine. I'm just trying to make a pretty picture while they are trying to convey scientific information through imagery.

It's a pretty good nontechnical introduction to astrophotography and has a great selection of images from all aspects of astronomy.

If you have any interest in imagery from space and any curiosity about how they are made this is a great introduction to who the scientists do it.

[Giulia Pianelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book! I recommend it to anyone who’s interested in space stuff, even without knowing much about it. Pleasant read and astonishing images. Many thanks to the authors for putting all this info together

[Krishna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dense with information and magical imagery to blow your mind!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An in-depth look at the art and science of those unforgettable images we have all seen. An amazing voyage into how science uses how light works to bring us breathtaking images of the universe.