The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers

This delightful book describes what it is actually like to carry out astronomical observations as a professional astronomer. It looks back at the days of photographic plates and freezing domes, examines today’s astronomy of remote observing and digital cameras, and ponders a future of gigantic automated surveys. Many are the stories of the adventures and misadventures of astronomers in pursuit of their observations, and those sometimes autobiographical tales are what make the book fun as well as instructive. I had a few quibbles from time to time, for example, an occasional use of “literally” when it might not be appropriate — but who really cares about that? I strongly recommend this book. The author may not want to duplicate her efforts too closely in any future book, but there are certainly enough stories still untold to make a sequel. Most of them may even be true.

This is a superb book by an outstanding science communicator who is also a world class astronomer. Emily Levesque takes you with her into the domes of some of the world’s largest telescopes and shares epic tales from the pioneers of astronomy during the past 100 years. From the era of glass photographic plates to the nearly fully automated telescopes of today, this is a great survey of modern astronomy. And best of all, it’s FUN to read! If you know any astronomy buffs this is a perfect book to give as a gift.

And such a delight! Written in clear, concise prose with a touch of the lyrical and luminous at times. Dr. Levesque certainly has a knack for explaining the art and science of observing astronomers to us on-cognoscente. It was a pleasure to learn some of the history of observing astronomers, its day-to-day business from the momentous to the outright comical, to hear the stories of todays star-gazers, as well as the future and direction of the field. The Last Stargazers is a masterful entry in the canon of popular science literature.

Who would’ve thought that astronomers lead such intriguing, high stakes lives? Pretty cool to learn more about what actually goes into getting all those pretty photos of the skies you see in magazines- it’s not just about showing up at a telescope and swinging it around to take a picture of a few stars.

The book is an engaging read, with a lot of moments I was laughing out loud (lol) as I followed the hijinx of Emily and her fellow astronomers!

Reminded me in a way of Carrying the Fire by Mike Collins. One reviewer noted that Collins was not merely an astronaut who happened to be a writer but was rather a writer who happened to be an astronaut. Emily Levesque is an engaging storyteller who may well be able to write about anything, but she’s also a passionate and accomplished astronomer. So she’s written about astronomy.

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