This lavishly illustrated exploration of the Universe will appeal to anyone who has looked at the night sky with awe or tried to photograph it. The world's foremost astronomical photographer, David Malin, presents the finest collection of colour photographs of nebulae, star clusters, galaxies and clusters of galaxies ever assembled. Sixty of the colour photographs are published here for the first time.

Malin weaves a lucid and highly informative description of each picture into a well-rounded view of our colourful Universe. After describing the advances made in astronomy through photography, he launches on a magnificent tour of the Universe, as seen through his camera lens. The constellation Orion, the star clouds of the Milky Way, and the glittering stars of the Jewel Box cluster introduce the starry realms.

Swirls of gas clouds beckon in the next chapter, where reflection nebulae are gloriously displayed. The story of star formation then unfolds, followed in another chapter by the life history of the stars, and concluding with spectacular pictures of supernova remnants. Leaving our Galaxy, Malin guides us to the Magellanic Clouds, giant active galaxies, interacting galaxies, and remote clusters in the far reaches of the cosmos. The photographs have been taken with some of the world's finest optical telescopes and printed using special photographic techniques.

In this visual treat, the astronomical objects are seen in their natural colours, much as they would appear if the eye were a thousand times more sensitive. This stunning portfolio is accompanied by non-technical captions and a lucid text written to captivate the general reader