This book is part of a book series called Close-Up .

This is an encyclopedia. An encyclopedia is a book or numbered set of books containing authoritative summary information about a variety of topics in the form of short essays, usually arranged alphabetically by headword or classified in some manner. An entry may be signed or unsigned, with or without illustration or a list of references for further reading. Headwords and text are usually revised periodically for publication in a new edition. In a multivolume encyclopedia, any indexes are usually located at the end of the last volume. Encyclopedias may be general (example: Encyclopedia Americana) or specialized, usually by subject (Encyclopedia of Bad Taste) or discipline (Encyclopedia of Social Work). This book was published 2011 by DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley) .

Steve Parker is an experienced non-fiction children's writer who also wrote the Look at Your Body series. Isabel Thomas is an experienced author of non-fiction books for children and has written many articles for national newspapers including The Guardian and The Times. The author, John Woodward, has been a wildlife enthusiast for many years, with a particular interest in the more bizarre life-forms that flourish in the world's oceans. He has written more than 30 books and many hundreds of articles on all aspects of wildlife, earth sciences and the natural world. Dr Mike Goldsmith works at the UK's National Physical Laboratory. He has worked on a variety of science topics, including sound and space. He has written several books for children. Carole Stott is an astronomer and author. She has written more than 20 books on space-related subjects for both adults and children.