Mapping The Red Planet

Mapping the Red Planet

Geographies of Mars

One of the first maps of Mars, published by an Italian astronomer in 1877, with its pattern of canals, fueled belief in intelligent life forms on the distant red planet—a hope that continued into the 1960s. Although the Martian canals have long since been dismissed as a famous error in the history of science, K. Maria D. Lane argues that there was nothing accidental about these early interpretations. Indeed, she argues, the construction of Mars as an incomprehensibly complex and engineered world both reflected and challenged dominant geopolitical themes during a time of major cultural, intellectual, political, and economic transition in the Western world. Geographies of Mars telescopes in on a critical period in the development of the geographical imagination, when European imperialism was at its zenith and American expansionism had begun in earnest. Astronomers working in the new observatories of the American Southwest or in the remote heights of the South American Andes were inspired, Lane finds, by their own physical surroundings and used representations of the Earth’s arid landscapes to establish credibility for their observations of Mars. With this simple shift to the geographer’s point of view, Lane deftly explains some of the most perplexing stances on Mars taken by familiar protagonists such as Percival Lowell, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Lester Frank Ward. A highly original exploration of geography’s spatial dimensions at the beginning of the twentieth century, Geographies of Mars offers a new view of the mapping of far-off worlds.

Hubble

For 20 years the Hubble Space Telescope has been hurtling around our planet at 17,500 mph sending spectacularly sharp images of the universe back to Earth. Hubble is a visual celebration of this large and versatile telescope's astonishing scientific and technical achievements. This fully revised and updated edition of Hubble: Window on the Universe (Legacy Edition) showcases the very latest and clearest images of galaxies, nebulae, quasars, exploding stars and stellar nurseries. More than 200 remarkable cosmic images reveal the inner workings of the solar system, the expansion of the Universe, the birth and death of stars, the formation of planetary nebulae, the dynamics of galaxies and the mysterious force known as 'dark energy'. Featuring the history of the project from its origins and launch in 1990, the discovery and emergency repair of a defective mirror, the impact of subsequent servicing missions and finally, its extraordinary legacy this stunning giant volume will take you on a journey through the universe via 200 glorious full-colour images.