Heaven's Touch

"Jim Kaler, who has passionately and expertly described the stars and their vagaries, now brings the whole Universe--from the tides through hypernovae and gamma-ray bursts--to general readers. His writing is not only clear and straightforward but also correct and up to date, addressing both standard topics and the latest astronomical goodies."--Jay M. Pasachoff, Williams College""Heaven's Touch" examines the physical effects of gravity, radiation, solar storms, asteroid and comet impacts, cosmic rays, supernovae, and gamma-ray bursts on our home planet. Its conclusions are significant: our planet does not exist in isolation but rather is part of a complex planetary, stellar, and galactic system whose influences are profound. I found myself propelled along in the reading."--J. Michael Shull, University of Colorado at Boulder""Heaven's Touch" presents the diverse ways that astronomical objects affect the Earth and humans, beyond their visual appearance in the sky. Kaler is a senior astronomer with an excellent reputation as a researcher, educator, and author. There is a lot of good material here that has not featured in very many popular astronomy books."--Chris Impey, author of "The Living Cosmos"""Heaven's Touch" contains much of interest that should be informative and engaging to readers."--Donald Brownlee, coauthor of "Rare Earth"