Just Visiting This Planet, Revised and Updated for the Twenty-First Century: Further Scientific Adventures of Merlin from Omniscia

by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Stephen J. Tyson (Illustrator)

Overview

From Neil deGrasse Tyson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, comes a spirited journey to the planets and stars, revealing the answers to many mysteries of our galaxy and beyond.

In this companion volume to Merlin’s Tour of the Universe, we visit again with Merlin, a timeless traveler from Planet Omniscia, who answers a collection of imaginative questions about the cosmos from curious stargazers. Whether waxing poetic about Earth and its environs, the Sun and its stellar siblings, physical laws, or galaxies near and far, Merlin’s remarks are witty, humorous, and clear as a starry night sky.

Merlin tackles such conundrums as:

• If aliens exploded Earth’s moon, what effect would it have on us?

• Are black holes gathering matter in preparation for another big bang in another time and dimension?

• Why does the Moon look bigger on the horizon?

Accompanied by the playful illustrations of Stephen J. Tyson, Just Visiting This Planet is a lively, entertaining, and indispensable guidebook to the universe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665019811
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	10/21/2025
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. In 2017 he became the first American to win the prestigious Stephen Hawking Medal for science communication. He is the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History and a research associate in its Department of Astrophysics. From 2006 to 2011 he hosted the educational science television show NOVA ScienceNow on PBS, and in 2014 and 2020 he hosted the television series Cosmos, updates of Carl Sagan’s landmark series. Tyson has written multiple New York Times bestselling books.

Editorial Reviews

Tyson is a master of streamlining and simplification…taking mind-bogglingly complex ideas, stripping them down to their nuts and bolts, padding them with colorful allegories and dorky jokes, and making them accessible to the layperson.”

Salon

Tyson has created a space-age Merlin. An astrophysicist and educator, Tyson weaves together imaginative with straightforward science.”

USA Today

We all have some questions we’d like to ask about astronomy. Well, here they are—and the answers too, short, straightforward, light-hearted, and correct.”

on the original publication of companion volume Me Isaac Asimov