Postcards From Mars : The First Photographer on the Red Planet

Author(s): Jim Bell

RARE AND COLLECTIBLE | SCIENCE

The first photographic tour of the surface of another planet has now been accomplished.

Those who thrilled to the lunar beauty of Full Moon and the IMAX smash Roving Mars will marvel at this awesome, vivid, beautiful portrait of what it is like to take a stroll on Mars.
The most fantastic of all journeys ? the Spirit and Opportunity mobile robot missions to the surface of Mars ? produced over 150,000 astonishing photographs. While the images were made available on low-resolution computer screens as they were sent back across millions of space miles, no one until now has done the painstaking work of editing, cropping, and processing these massive (often larger than 100 megabytes) images.

The person to do it is Jim Bell, the scientist and photographer who led the photography team on this historic expedition. With his unique perspective, these photographs take us from the brave launches of these robots, to the alien landscape they discovered and the mysteries of the planet that they have helped to solve.

Over 150 lavish full-color-process prints bring the colors and textures of Mars to vivid life on the page. Four of the most impressive pictures are presented in their entirety as gatefold images ? which extend over three feet in width ? providing a view of the surface of another planet unprecedented in its detail and clarity.Postcards from Mars is the perfect gift to give readers who have their feet on the ground and their eyes on the heavens.

2006. First edition, first printing. A fine copy in a near fine, unclipped d/w with some shelf wear to the rear panel. Scans available if required.


Product Information

"Open the book, and look at the Martian sky. By an Earthling's standards, it's an odd colour to be sure, but its otherworldly quality comes from something else. There is no hint of movement, no evidence of plants or people...it's stark and yet quite beautiful. Somehow though, it's familiar." - Bill Nye, from his introduction"

Jim Bell is Professor of Astronomy at Cornell. He was in charge of the photography on the Spirit and Opportunity rover missions to Mars that touched down in 2004.

General Fields

  • : 9780525949855
  • : Dutton Books
  • : Dutton Books
  • : 1.683
  • : 01 June 2006
  • : 292mm X 292mm X 23mm
  • : United States
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Illustrations (chiefly col.)
  • : 220
  • : 778.35
  • : HARDCOVER
  • : Jim Bell