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The Observer | 01. 1 0. 17 | THE NEW REVIEW 19

The caption here suggests that the
inspiration for this styling is an image
reproduced on page 30 of the book.
This is an 1845 drawing made at the
eyepiece of a telescope at Birr Castle,
County Off aly , Ireland by the third Earl
of Rosse. It shows the swirl of light
he glimpsed that we now know is the
Whirlpool Galaxy , a giant collection of
hundreds of billions of stars some 25 m
light years away.
Van Gogh’s inclusion of the swirl
is rather like the way more modern
Hollywood artists look at the latest
cosmic images for verisimilitude in
their science-fi ction fi lm backdrops.
To prove that point, there is Davi d
Morton ’s Vulcan and Sister Planet
and its Moon from the 2001 director’s
edition of 1979 ’s Star Trek: The Motion
Picture. Here is an exotic landscape
with a sky full of other planetary bodies
– strikingly similar in both composition
and colour palette to the unearthly
vistas being returned by N asa’s early
Pioneer and Voyager missions to the
outer planets.
One of Murdin’s own favourite
images is of Buzz Aldrin’s footprint on
the lunar surface. The reason, he says, is
because “the picture is about everything
you can’t see in the picture”. That
itself is an important theme running

through out. The images are designed

to stimulate our thinking about

diff erent ways humans have visualised

the universe and our place within it.

Murdin says that he hopes the reader

will take away “pride at being human in

a vast and fascinating universe”.

There are not many books that can

claim that level of ambition. While

some will balk at the interdisciplinary

approach, it is worth remembering

that many of the most popular

astronomy books, even from the

giants like Stephen Hawking, contain

their elements of fi ction. By that I

mean that there is a modern fashion

for neglecting to diff erentiate mere

hypotheses from established fact. At

least here, the origin of the image is

detailed in the caption.

Universe may be the ultimate

coff ee table book about astronomy.

Just make sure you have the

ultimate coff ee table to hold its

considerable weight.

Dr Stuart Clark is the author of The

Search for Earth’s Twin (Quercus).

Universe: Exploring the Astronomical

World is published on 9 October by

Phaidon (£39.95). To order a copy for

£33.96 go to guardianbookshop.com or

call 0330 333 6846

▼ DUNES ON MARS

NASA

Th is picture was

taken on 24 January

2014 by the HIRISE

camera onboard

the Mars

Reconnaissance

Orbiter. Th e image

shows a 1.5km

section of crater.

Crests of dunes

catch the light as

the sun rises on a

desert scene

streaked with early

winter frost – the

temperature has

barely risen above

the night-time low

of minus 100C.

Nasa, 2014

Caption information

courtesy of

Universe (Phaidon)

 SEVERAL CIRCLES

WASSILY KANDINSKY

While a purely

abstract

arrangement of

circles, this 1926

canvas by the

Russian artist is full

of suggestions of

the cosmos.

Kandinsky uses

colour, mass and

pattern to convey a

calm dynamic amid

the uniformity of his

circles – a shape he

felt opened up a

fourth dimension –

one of spirituality.

Guggenheim

Museum, New York,

1926

‘I’m not

someone

for

brooding

indoors and

then doing

a think

piece’

Danny

Baker on

fi ghting

cancer –

and the

system

pages 12-

Observer Magazine