The Intimate Universe

How the Stars are Closer Than You Think

Marek Kukula Quercus £18.99

HB

Everything in the world and across the Universe is inextricably linked: that’s the premise of this enjoyable book by Marek Kukula, Public Astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. Precious metals and even the iron in our blood have their origins in explosive supernovae across the Galaxy.

The book recalls the events of the Big Bang in fascinating but accessible detail, telling how a cosmic soup of particles led to the distribution of different elements within stars, planets and ourselves. Did you know that you would still be able to see the echo of that Big Bang on an old, non-digital TV?

The book guides you through the life cycle of a star and how its spectacular demise leads to renewal as debris merges with gas and dust to form clouds and, eventually, new stars. A tour of the Solar System, explaining how water is distributed, includes up-to-date results from the Rosetta and New Horizons missions.

The discovery of meteorites from Mars here on Earth suggests that ancient pristine chunks of Earth might be found on the Moon – what a gift for a geologist that would be! Alongside the science there are colourful anecdotes, such as how pooping birds have been linked to US radio astronomy and early stellar studies from the Tower of London.

Unusually in this day and age, the book has no illustrations other than the cover. But Kukula’s colourful writing paints pictures of its own that make this a wonderful and thought-provoking read. PAUL SUTHERLAND is a space writer and journalist