Giles Sparrow is a writer and editor specializing in astronomy and physics. He studied astronomy at University College London and science communication at Imperial College and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He has written for books, magazines and multi-volume encyclopaedias on a wide range of topics, from cutting-edge space technology to the history of science, and from distant constellations to ancient archaeology. He regularly contributes to magazines, including All About Space and Sky at Night, and is the author of the bestselling Cosmos, A History of the Universe in 21 Stars, Spaceflight and What Shape is Space? A primer for the 21st century, from Thames & Hudson’s The Big Idea series. Martin Rees is an astrophysicist and cosmologist, and the United Kingdom’s Astronomer Royal. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 2004 to 2012 and President of the Royal Society between 2005 and 2010. In 2012 he co-founded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, an interdisciplinary research centre dedicated to studying and reducing the threat of global catastrophes.

'Published in 1742, this extraordinary work, illustrating everything that was known of the cosmos at the time, is given new life in Giles Sparrow’s edition. This is a book ultimately as accessible to the non-scientist as it is to the specialist … a story of increasing fascination' - The Spectator

• Foreword by Martin ReesIntroduction: Doppelmayr & His WorldThe Atlas CoelestisLegacy: The Pathway to Modern AstronomyMilestones of AstronomyDramatis PersonaeGlossaryFurther ReadingSources of IllustrationsIndexAcknowledgments

Giles Sparrow is a writer and editor specializing in astronomy and physics. He studied astronomy at University College London and science communication at Imperial College and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He has written for books, magazines and multi-volume encyclopaedias on a wide range of topics, from cutting-edge space technology to the history of science, and from distant constellations to ancient archaeology. He regularly contributes to magazines, including All About Space and Sky at Night, and is the author of the bestselling Cosmos, A History of the Universe in 21 Stars, Spaceflight and What Shape is Space? A primer for the 21st century, from Thames & Hudson’s The Big Idea series. Martin Rees is an astrophysicist and cosmologist, and the United Kingdom’s Astronomer Royal. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 2004 to 2012 and President of the Royal Society between 2005 and 2010. In 2012 he co-founded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, an interdisciplinary research centre dedicated to studying and reducing the threat of global catastrophes.

'Published in 1742, this extraordinary work, illustrating everything that was known of the cosmos at the time, is given new life in Giles Sparrow’s edition. This is a book ultimately as accessible to the non-scientist as it is to the specialist … a story of increasing fascination' - The Spectator

• Foreword by Martin ReesIntroduction: Doppelmayr & His WorldThe Atlas CoelestisLegacy: The Pathway to Modern AstronomyMilestones of AstronomyDramatis PersonaeGlossaryFurther ReadingSources of IllustrationsIndexAcknowledgments

Giles Sparrow is a writer and editor specializing in astronomy and physics. He studied astronomy at University College London and science communication at Imperial College and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He has written for books, magazines and multi-volume encyclopaedias on a wide range of topics, from cutting-edge space technology to the history of science, and from distant constellations to ancient archaeology. He regularly contributes to magazines, including All About Space and Sky at Night, and is the author of the bestselling Cosmos, A History of the Universe in 21 Stars, Spaceflight and What Shape is Space? A primer for the 21st century, from Thames & Hudson’s The Big Idea series. Martin Rees is an astrophysicist and cosmologist, and the United Kingdom’s Astronomer Royal. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 2004 to 2012 and President of the Royal Society between 2005 and 2010. In 2012 he co-founded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, an interdisciplinary research centre dedicated to studying and reducing the threat of global catastrophes.

'Published in 1742, this extraordinary work, illustrating everything that was known of the cosmos at the time, is given new life in Giles Sparrow’s edition. This is a book ultimately as accessible to the non-scientist as it is to the specialist … a story of increasing fascination' - The Spectator

• Foreword by Martin ReesIntroduction: Doppelmayr & His WorldThe Atlas CoelestisLegacy: The Pathway to Modern AstronomyMilestones of AstronomyDramatis PersonaeGlossaryFurther ReadingSources of IllustrationsIndexAcknowledgments