October 1, 2023
Introductions to celestial wonders--some astronomically distant, others closer to home. Casting her subjects as "cosmic heroes," NASA science writer Gonz�lez profiles a randomly mixed lot of 15 stars, asterisms, and residents of our solar system--beginning with the moon, which is a "Hero of Rhythm and Renewal" for its regular phases, and finishing up with that "Hero of Pageantry and Protection," our insulating, aurora-generating atmosphere. Aside from artificial satellites ("Heroes of Communication and Cooperation"), all are natural. In each double-spread entry, the author explains how to find the object (a no-brainer for the sun and the Milky Way but useful for spotting, for instance, Acrux, one of the stars in the Southern Cross), some of its distinctive features, and a "Brief History" that gathers relevant names and lore from various world cultures. Though capable of poetic lines like "Sirius is the brightest star in our dark, velveteen sky," the author occasionally oversimplifies, as when she claims that two galaxies are in the same "region of space" as Ursa Major. Meadows opens each chapter with an invigorating montage of swirling colors, evocative motifs, and stylized historical and mythological figures, then goes on to brighten ensuing pages with smaller images in the same stylized vein. An inconsistent jumble, better for browsing than research. (glossary, further reading) (Nonfiction. 8-10)
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