One of the top scientists in the field of asteroid hunting explains how, for the first time, humanity could have the knowledge to prevent a devastating asteroid impact. --

A powerful telescope has discovered a giant object speeding through our solar system. Is it an asteroid? Will its orbit bring it close to Earth? Is there a chance it could one day collide with our planet? It's time for a team of asteroid hunters to go into action and track the object as it hurtles through space! Get to Work with Science and Technology is a fascinating new series that introduces readers to the real-life applications of STEM subjects. In Asteroid Hunters, readers will meet the scientists who use high-powered telescopes and super computers to watch for dangers from space. Told in a lively narrative style, this book includes firsthand accounts of life as an asteroid hunter, dramatic anecdotes, behind-the-scenes photos, and the coolest facts about asteroids and comets. Readers will also get the chance to try out their space scientist skills with activities that are perfect for science fair projects.

Who or what really killed the young son of Southern Baptist preacher Gareth Holbright? Where do the sympathies of straight-laced military commander John Herman really lie? What’s behind the cover-up of the closed moon colony? And will commitment-phobic Max and ambitious journalist Tina ever reunite? The first book in the Cassiopeia Chronicles, The Right Asteroid is set in the early years of the twenty-second century, when human colonies in space have created the equivalent of a new Wild West. Freedom-loving asteroid hunter Max Julian wants nothing more than to have some fun and make enough money to pay off her space ship, in that order. Instead, what she’d thought was her last-chance asteroid turns out to be an alien probe – and Max makes first contact, setting off a chain of events that will change human life on earth, the moon, and Mars forever. Along the way, Max joins forces with an unlikely new team of human friends to save the lives of a half-million geometry-loving, high-tech aliens who call themselves the Kurool. But EarthGov will stop at nothing to prevent the aliens from settling on Mars. Meet Max’s friends: Lodan Greenfellow, an inquisitive agronomist, wants to understand the mystery of the aliens on Mars, but EarthGov wants to destroy the aliens and anyone who gets in their way. She might be in their cross hairs. Gareth Holbright, a grieving Southern Baptist minister, wants to mourn the loss of his son, but finds himself embroiled in the political race for the new EarthGov president and on the opposite side from his anti-alien brother. Tina Fiorici, an intrepid journalist for the New York Times, wants to write the real story about what’s happening with the aliens on Mars and about the burgeoning movement for independence. But the EarthGov doesn’t want the truth to get out. John Herman, a straight-laced military commander, just wants to keep his career on track, but learning what EarthGov has planned for the aliens makes him willing to risk it all.

An overview of asteroid science, summarising the astronomical and geological characteristics of asteroids, for students and researchers.

Amateur astronomers have to start somewhere. Most begin by buying a modest astronomical telescope and getting to know the night sky. After a while, many want to move on to the next stage, but this can be problematic. The magazines advertise a mass of commercially-made equipment – some of it very expensive – which can represent a major financial outlay. The trick is to choose the right equipment, and then use it to its fullest extent. Observing Skills: The Science and Art of using Astronomical Telescopes provides the required information. First, it explains how to get the best from entry-level equipment (that upgrade may not even be needed for a year or two!). Second, it explains how to select equipment that is at the ‘next level’, and describes how use more advanced telescopes and accessories. The book is organized according to observational targets, and although it concentrates mainly on visual observing, it concludes with a section on imaging and the equipment currently available – from regular digital cameras, through webcams, to specialized chilled-chip CCD cameras. Observing Skills: The Science and Art of using Astronomical Telescopes is the perfect follow-up to Moore and Watson: Astronomy with a Budget Telescope and Tonkin: AstroFAQs . It neatly fills the gap between these introductory books and the more advanced books in Springer’s Practical Astronomy list.

This “accessible and always entertaining” (Booklist) combination of history, pop science, and in-depth reporting offers a fascinating account of the asteroids that hit Earth long ago and those streaming toward us now, as well as how prepared we are against asteroid-caused catastrophe. One of these days, warns Gordon Dillow, the Earth will be hit by a comet or asteroid of potentially catastrophic size. The only question is when. In the meantime, we need to get much better at finding objects hurtling our way, and if they’re large enough to penetrate the atmosphere without burning up, figure out what to do about them. We owe many of science’s most important discoveries to the famed Meteor Crater, a mile-wide dimple on the Colorado Plateau created by an asteroid hit 50,000 years ago. In his masterfully researched Fire in the Sky, Dillow unpacks what the Crater has to tell us. Prior to the early 1900s, the world believed that all craters—on the Earth and Moon—were formed by volcanic activity. Not so. The revelation that Meteor Crater and others like it were formed by impacts with space objects has led to a now accepted theory about what killed off the dinosaurs, and it has opened up a new field of asteroid observation that is brimming with urgency. Dillow looks at great asteroid hits of the past and modern-day asteroid hunters and defense planning experts, including America’s first Planetary Defense Officer. Satellite sensors confirm that a Hiroshima-scale blast occurs in the atmosphere every year, and a smaller, one-kiloton blast every month. While Dillow makes clear that the objects above can be deadly, he consistently inspires awe with his descriptions of their size, makeup, and origins. Both a riveting work of popular science and a warning to not take for granted the space objects hurtling overhead, Fire in the Sky is, ultimately, a testament to our universe’s celestial wonders.

In this stellar activity book, kids delve into the rich history of space exploration, where telescopes, satellites, probes, landers, and human missions lead to amazing discoveries. Updated to include the recent discovery of Eris which, along with Pluto, has been newly classified as a &“dwarf planet&” by the International Astronomical Union, this cosmic adventure challenges kids to explore the planets and other celestial bodies for themselves through activities such as building a model of a comet using soil, molasses, dry ice, and window cleaner; or creating their own reentry vehicle to safely return an egg to Earth's surface. With biographies of more than 20 space pioneers, specific mission details, a 20-page field guide to the solar system, and plenty of suggestions for further research, this is the ultimate guidebook to exploring the solar system.

H.T. MacGilLIVRAY Royal Observatory Blackford Hill Edinburgh EH9 3HJ Scotland U.K. lAU Symposium No. 161 on 'Astronomy from Wide-Field Imaging', held in Potsdam, Germany, during 23-27th August 1993, was the first conference organised by the recently-formed Working Group of lAU Commission 9 on 'Wide-Field Imaging'. This Working Group was instigated during the XXIst meeting of the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Buenos Aires in 1991, and represented a merging of the former formal lAU Working Group on 'Astronomical Photography' and the informal 'Digitised Optical Sky Surveys' Working Group. Dr. Richard West was 'invited' to be Chairperson, and hence was given the daunting task of organising the Group from scratch. The very fact that the first conference after only two years was a major lAU Symposium says much about the determination and enthusiasm of Richard West to fulfilling the aims of the new Working Group. The siting of the conference in Potsdam in formerly East Germany provided an excellent opportunity to advantage from the political changes in Eastern Europe. Good access to the meeting was possible by scientists from Eastern European countries, allowing exchange of information on the very important Wide-Field facilities in both East and West, information on the rich archives of photographic plates that exist in both East and West, and allowing discussions between scientists facing very similar problems in both East and West.