Space Atlas: Mapping the Universe and Beyond Hardcover – November 6, 2012

I bought this as a gift for my younger sister who is gaining an interest in astronomy and loved it so much I had to buy myself a copy, too. My sister absolutely loves it. It has pages of written information about many astronomical topics, and plenty of informative charts and graphics. The full-color photos are gorgeous and mesmerizing. I have it on a side table and visitors like to flip through it. A few visitors have noted the title and author to buy it later for themselves or others. It's almost addicting to read!There is a also great, long appendix that includes pages about certain space-related concepts/objects described in the book, a glossary, a very thorough general index and separate thorough place-name index, and more. This book is complete.Anyone who isn't already obsessed with astronomy will surely be after reading this book - I'm serious, it's that interesting.

This is a great resource for those who are interested is astronomy, cosmology, and astrophysics topics. The book is largeand heavy and full of many useful resources. One I find most useful is the topography of the planets derived from satelliteimaging. This allows us to see the planets like we have never seen them before. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is into the topic of astronomy and related fields. As an astronomy instructor I will find this book very helpful and an exquisite visual reference to many topics discussed in class.

I bought this for my husband who is a newbie astronomer. He has worn out our copy of Terrance Dickenson's Backyard Astronomer so I was looking for something new. He has a nice computerized telescope and spends a dozen winter nights a year looking for deep space objects in bitter winter cold and takes in as many documentaries as he can, as he is not a strong reader. But he enjoys reading small sections of this book and says it's "more like story-telling." Happy with the purchase.

I ordered this book as soon as I read about it, and I was not much disappointed when I received it. It certainly invites browsing, and many of the articles are not particularly long but give all the pertinent data. My only complaint (and I hope the NGS reads this), and reason I cannot give the Space Atlas five stars, is that book does not open flat. A book this size (and price) should open and fold flat on the table. The large 2-page planet maps are split down the middle with the spine of the book running through them, making it difficult to see the topography in the center of the planets. This does not affect the smaller satellite (moon) maps which fit on a single page. The fantastic hardcover Nasa Atlas of the Solar System (1997) also had this problem but resolved it neatly by having the enormous pages fold open completely flat. Nevertheless, I will keep the Space Atlas and refer to it often.

This book is totally breathtaking! I bought it as a Christmas gift for someone and ended up getting absorbed in the pictures and wished I didn't have to give it to him! It's gorgeous and gives a great visual representation of how vast, beautiful, and unexplored our universe really is.

Space is a concept not fully grasped my many. Through these colorful and wonderful visuals, I was better able to understand space, where we live in our solar system, and our placement in the universe. This is a great read - though I admittedly bought it for the pictures :)

I bought this book for a friend who's an avid astronomy learner/lover.The rating proves my point. He was completely head-over-heels for the book and couldn't keep his eyes off it.The hardcover looks amazing, the pages are nice, quality wise, and the skin for the hardcover was pretty awesome too.Thanks!

I purchased this book as a gift for my husband and he was "Wowed" by it. Breath-taking photographs. Stunning aerials. Informative dialog. Fascinating facts. He couldn't put it down, and can't wait to read the complete volume cover to cover.