By MICHAEL BENSON About two-and-a-half miles above the Pacific, the world’s biggest observatory complex dominates the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Among other instruments at this site are the Kecks, the largest optical telescopes in the world; each possesses … Continued
Monthly Archives: November 2011
Universe Today Book Review: Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes
People usually associate squads of bespectacled engineers and scientists as being the sole guardians of space. Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes by Michael Benson is the type of book that rationalizes and moreover encourages the inclusion of other specialists, … Continued
Michael Benson interview
Forget the Moon–Go Directly to Mars
Op-Ed Contributor by Michael Benson Ljubljana — Earth, as we have known for only a small part of the trajectory of the human species, hangs in an inconceivably vast space. That void isn’t empty, however; it’s spangled with … Continued
LA Times Book Review BEYOND
Step outside beneath the night sky, break away from the glow of city lights and the moon’s bright cast, and the universe arches above you. Space becomes time and time a pathway to the instant of creation. As sailors once … Continued
American Scientist review
BOOK REVIEW For the past four decades, robotic spacecraft have been taking snapshots of our solar system, mostly with a scientific agenda-to gather data about our celestial neighborhood. But as writer and filmmaker Michael Benson shows in Beyond: Visions of … Continued
Gale’s What Do I Read Next?
In 1949, when I was 15, I was enthralled by my copy of The Conquest of Space, with sober text by German-born Willy Ley and spectacular color paintings by Chesley Bonestell, even then the dean of astronomical art. No one … Continued