Take your seats for the greatest tour ever – one that encompasses no less than the whole of the Universe. En route, we stop off to gaze at 100 amazing sights – from asteroids to zodiacal dust and from orbit around the Earth to beyond the most distant galaxies. We start right here on Earth, with your tour guides: the three intrepid cosmic voyagers Patrick Moore, Brian May and Chris Lintott. They explain the sights – what they are, and how they fit into the astronomical zoo of familiar and curious objects and phenomena – and convey their own personal enthusiasm for each marvel you encounter. The images present the extraordinary beauty of the Universe as seen through the eyes of the biggest and best telescopes on Earth and in space, and occasionally in the backyards of expert amateur observers.
Featured sights will include:
- Earth
- The Moon
- Mercury
- Venus
- The Sun
- Mars
- Asteroid belts
- Zodiacal Dust
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Uranus
- Neptune
- Transneptunians
- Alpha centauri
- Betelgeux
- Double pulsar
- Planetary nebulae
- Centre of Milky Way
- Globulars
- Sag dwarfs (Dwingaloo)
- Crab nebula
- Other galaxies
- Magellanic clouds
- Individual galaxies
- Virgo cluster
- Other clusters
- Great attractor
- Sloan Survey
- great wall, computerised universe millennium simulation
- ULIRGs, including SCUBA galaxy
- Type la supernova
- Supernovae type II
- Quasar
- Edge of the Universe
- Cosmic Microwave Background
- Practical astronomy section on how to find and view our favourite object
Chris Lintott is best-known as the co-presenter, with Patrick, of The Sky at Night. He took his first degree in Physics at Cambridge, then his PhD in Astrophysics at University College London, and is now doing further research at Oxford. Brian May, although best known to the world as the lead guitarist of supergroup Queen, recently completed the PhD in astrophysics which he abandoned when Queen first started to find fame. Sir Patrick Moore is the world's best-loved astronomer, author of more than 100 books, and presenter of the world's longest running TV programme, BBC's The Sky at Night.