author : David Allen

Now the universe has become a common property. Space exploration is a reality. Information from X-rays, cosmic rays, neutrinos, space probes, ultraviolet wavelengths, radio waves and the most powerful optical telescopes is flooding in from the deepest parts of space. Theories and models are emerging to account for the most unlikely phenomena. We are on the verge of a fundamental shift in our understanding comparable to the leap forward that occurred in the Renaissance. This is a change of knowledge which reflects on our origins and on our basic concept of nature. It is of great importance to all human culture.

The Catalogue of the Universe is a collection and a portrait of the best known, the most unusual, the most remarkable and the most interesting of all that we know about, or at this moment, can know about in space. Each object is described in terms the layman can understand, each is illustrated with unique photographs, some prepared by a new technique that has never been used for a popular book before this. Many of these photographs are in brilliant color.

This is the only catalogue work available that gives us all a full picture of the nearly unimaginable universe that is now becoming a real and permanent feature of our understanding. It is an important new reference source and a highly original book, written for the layman by distinguished professional astronomers.