Little Book, BIG Universe

A practical guide to exploring our southern night skies, pitched at curious explorers aged 8-14

Want to watch spectacular meteors rain down on Earth? Wave to real-life astronauts as they fly overhead? Find your way home using only the Southern Cross?

Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith’s easy step-by-step guide to exploring Australia’s night skies is full of mind-blowing facts about our cosmos. You will master time travel and planet hunting, learn how to take amazing photos in the dark and use helpful gadgets to supercharge your new backyard hobby. Sprinkled throughout the pages, First Dog on the Moon’s awesome drawings show the best entertainment in town is found by simply looking up.

About the Author

Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith is an award-winning astronomer, Australia's Ambassador for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and a professor at the University of New South Wales. She is the author of Under the Stars (2019), When Galaxies Collide (2018), The Secret Life of Stars (2020) and Aliens and other Worlds: True tales from our solar system and beyond (October 2021). Lisa is a regular on our screens and was a presenter on ABC TV's Stargazing Live. She has toured Australia with several live shows - including three featuring Apollo-missions astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Charlie Duke and Gene Cernan - and with her own stage show, When Galaxies Collide. In her spare time, she loves running up mountains in the mud. First Dog on the Moon is an award-winning political cartoonist who has written and illustrated various books and performed live onstage in a number of shows.