Dr. Neil English is an Irish citizen with a BSc in Physics & Astronomy, and also a PhD in Biochemistry. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and a regular contributor to Astronomy Now (the UK's major astronomy magazine), as well as to Ireland's Astronomy & Space. Dr. English's astronomical images have been published in various magazines and journals, including a full page in the June 2006 issue of Astronomy. Dr. English has, and continues to, make contributions to Cloudy Nights in the form of several detailed telescope reviews. He is the author of Guide to Mars (Pole Star Publications, 2003) and he has three books published by Springer: Choosing and Using a Refracting Telescope (2010), Choosing and Using a Dobsonian Telescope (2011), Classic Telescopes (2012). His fourth book with Springer is Grab 'n' Go Astronomy (2014). Dr. English currently has (among other instruments) a large 12-inch Dobsonian which he uses on the darkest, steadiest nights at his home in ruralScotland.

Explores the fascinating story of how we have deployed space-based observatories to greatly extend our knowledge of the Sun, the family of planets in the solar system, and the cosmos far beyond

Shows how different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum provide different information about the universe - and why specialized space observatories are needed

Discusses the future of space telescope technologies and the status of space telescopes that are now being built or on the drawing board

Includes supplementary material: [...]

Acknowledgements.- Preface.- Chapter 1: Light: Nature's Great Information Superhighway.- Chapter 2: The Hubble Space Telescope - Tragedy and Triumph.- Chapter 3: Hubble - The People's Telescope.- Chapter 4: The Infrared Universe.- Chapter 5: The Gamma Ray Universe.- Chapter 6: The Universe Through Ultraviolet Eyes.- Chapter 7: The X-Ray Universe.- Chapter 8: Probing the Microwave Sky.- Chapter 9: Empire of the Sun.- Chapter 10: Measuring the Heavens.- Chapter 11: Looking to the Future: The James Webb Space Telescope.- Useful Websites on Space Telescopes.- Glossary.- Bibliography.- Index.