In his recently published book “For the Love of Mars; A Human History of the Red Planet,” Dr. Matthew Shindell of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, guides his readers through the history of our observations, interpretations, and most recently explorations of the aptly called red planet.
Presenting the red planet in both fact as well as the many fictions in which it has been featured, and including some of the most up-to-date discoveries from the information collected by the NASA Curiosity rover, this forthcoming book should be of interest to both dedicated astronomers as well as the simply martially curious alike.
I remember it distinctly. It was the summer of 1976 and I was eight years old. I was standing by the door of the Pig & Pancake Restaurant in Astoria, Oregon, waiting while my father paid the bill for our meal. There was a coin-operated newspaper box in the entryway, through which the front cover […]
When it comes to astronomy, let’s just say that I’m still learning. I’ve made some good progress with the Moon, and I’m learning to identify the brightest stars, but when it comes to anything much more complex than that – variable stars, nebulae, deep anything – I’m, as they say, “not quite there yet.”