Tumpline Review
Summer Stargazing TERENCE DICKINSON
IT TURNS OUT JONI MITCHELL was cor- rect, if not entirely in tune, when she sang, “We are stardust.” As Terence Dickinson, editor of SkyNews magazine and author of Summer Stargazing, en- thusiastically explains, almost all atoms in the universe are by-products of star- light. Speaking of the universe, Dickin- son wants you to know that it’s really quite big. With ever-ready analogies he conveys the enormity of this collection of billions of galaxies, each one contain- ing billions of stars. But don’t be intimidated. We can only
see about 4,000 stars with the naked eye, and Dickinson aims to help you make sense of the “mural of constella- tion patterns that move in a stately sea- sonal rhythm.” Dickinson tells you how to use a pair
of simple binoculars to view the lu- nar seas, the solidified lava plains that flowed from the still-intact asteroid craters dotting the moon. He explains that the light from the stars in the big dipper began its journey toward earth when your great grandparents were alive. He demystifies—for those that want to be demystified—how electroni- cally-charged particles from the sun are funnelled toward the earth’s poles where they are stripped of their energy and produce shining auroras. And he con- vinces you that the streaks of light you are lucky to see aren’t actually shooting stars but are five-billion-year-old, pea- nut-sized bits of cosmic dust burning up as they enter the atmosphere. With extensive star charts, this book
has all the tools you need to put your newfound cosmic understanding to use on your next canoe trip. Why not make it, as Dickinson urges, a “mind expand- ing voyage in time and space”? —IM $19 Cdn …
www.fireflybooks.com
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