Book & podcast collection

Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer’s Guide to the Universe

byPhilip Plait

Astronomer Philip Plait imagines what human travelers would see, hear, and feel beneath alien skies. Using current science, he guides readers across the Moon, Mars, asteroids, giant planets, exoplanets, nebulae, star clusters, and black-hole environments. Familiar tourist language makes scale, gravity, atmosphere, color, and orbital motion vivid without pretending these destinations are safely reachable. The book combines wonder with careful physical reasoning, translating telescope data into sensory scenes. Plait shows how changing the observer's location transforms the universe and deepens appreciation for the unusual conditions that make Earth feel ordinary.

Publisher

Norton & Company Limited, W. W.

Publication date

2023

Format

Print edition

Pages

—

ISBN

9780393867305