The Rainbow Sky / The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series (PDF)

Tony Buick is a chemist by profession, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is the author of How to Photograph the Moon and Planets with your Digital Camera (Springer) and has had many astronomy and photography articles published, most recently in the Sky at Night magazine: How to Photograph the ISS. In addition, he has written for MENSA magazine, the Society of Popular Astronomy and various other magazines and journals.

From the reviews:

“Fireworks, flames, fiery pink sunsets, and rainbows: the world is a burst of color. We take it for granted, but as Tony Buick argues in The Rainbow Sky, that is how it should be. Gray roses wouldn't tempt us to inhale their sweetness, and gray flames wouldn't warn us they are hot and dangerous. Color, as the author discusses, is necessary to interpret our world and its place in the cosmos. Through stunning imagery, personal commentary and a conversational tone, Buick takes readers on a journey to explore color and discover its origins, it peculiarities and its ability to inspire awe. The Rainbow Sky, in its conversational tone, explains color on Earth, in the Solar System and beyond, and it reminds of the beauty and science of the rainbow.” —(Ashley Yeager, Public Information Officer, W. M. Keck Observatory)

“To interest an older child or a teenager in the beauty of astronomy and physics, this book, which is full of colored pictures, will work very nicely. … Many of the photographs are beautiful, indeed, stunning. … physics teacher may use it to illustrate some lectures on optics and gravitation. The faculty advisor of an astronomy club will definitively use the book to help the youngest members discover the beauty of the universe. … also be a great Christmas present for a young aspiring astronomer.” (Gary J. Long, Belgian Physical Society Magazine, Issue 1, 2011)