Can You Get Rainbows in Space? A Colourful Compendium of Space and Science, Sheila Kanani and Liz Kay
Can you get rainbows in space? Good question! Dr Sheila Kanani explores this and many more questions in this incredible collection of scientific facts about colour. Beautifully and brightly coloured throughout by illustrator Liz Kay, this irresistible book is a cornucopia of fascinating information. Why is blood red but your veins look blue? Why are carrots orange? Why is the world ‘going green’? Is the sky really blue? What is ultraviolet light? There’s so much to discover!
Starting with the most important thing – light – Sheila Kanani explores what light actually is and how it is perceived by the human eye. Dancing through the colours of the rainbow (and beyond, through black, white, fluorescence, infrared and ultraviolet), each section explains how we see that particular colour and explores nature linked to it, including how some animals can see in the dark. Best of all, you’ll learn exactly how to make a rainbow – in space!
Designed to get young scientists excited about outer space as well as the Earth they live on, this vibrant book packed with exquisite illustrations will draw in readers from as young as 7, but adults alike are sure to find themselves wowed by some fascinating facts.
Did you know overripe bananas glow indigo under ultraviolet light? Did you know hippos have red sweat? Did you know when you mix green and red light they make yellow light? Let’s find out!
Order the book on Bookshop.org.uk.
About the author
Dr Sheila Kanani MBE is a British astronomer and is the Education, Outreach and Diversity Officer at the Royal Astronomical Society and is dedicated to improving the representation of girls and women in physics.
In 2014 she won the Inspiring Women in Technology award, and also won the Europlanet Prize for Public Engagement with Planetary Science in 2020. She continues to identify new ways to make astronomy and physics accessible to underrepresented communities. She has written a series of books about exceptional female leaders as part of The Extraordinary Life Of… series, including Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart and Michelle Obama. She also dives further into space exploration with her book How to be an Astronaut and Other Space Jobs, with her latest release Can You Get Jellyfish in Space? coming in 2024.
Dr Kanani was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year’s Honours List for services to astronomy and to diversity in physics.
You can follow Sheila Kanani’s work here:
Twitter: @saturnsheila
LinkedIn: Dr Sheila Kanani MBE
Wikipedia: wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Kanani
About the illustrator
Liz Kay is a Yorkshire based illustrator who has worked on a variety of commissions across illustrated maps, hand lettering & calligraphy, greetings cards, infographics, children’s books, newspapers & magazines, animation, murals, personalised illustrations & wedding stationery.
Liz has provided illustrations for Time Out, Radio Times, Walker Books, Pearson Education, Conde Naste, Oxford University Press, Quality Chartered Institute and Lonely Planet amongst others.
You can follow Liz Kay’s work here:
Twitter: @LizKayillo
Website: lizkay.co.uk
With thanks to Synergy for their support.