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1929年，艾德溫哈伯（Edwin Hubble）宣佈了天文史上自伽利略以望遠鏡觀測天體後最重大的發現：宇宙擴張論。這個震驚世界的發並非一人一蹴可幾，而是數十年的科學技術發展累積所達到的成就。在這個歷史里程碑的背後，有一個鮮少被述說卻同樣引人入勝、振奮人心的故事，這一群集專業與業餘的天文研究者、不同領域實踐者雖然未必享有同樣的光環，他們的共同努力在在照見了科學進展其艱困無比的本質。

十九世紀的業餘天文研究者與發明家，將觀察天體的道路開闢出更寬廣的可能性，攝影、頻譜分析（spectral analysis）、創新科技的出現共同刺激、創造出一個嶄新的天文物理領域。從將自家改造成天文台的龐德（William Bond），天體攝影與輻射能譜測定術的先驅德瑞伯父子（John and Henry Draper），到如發明傅科擺的傅科（Léon Foucault）等多位發明家，與創立威爾森山天文台的天文學家海爾（George Hale），《追逐星光的偵探》（Starlight Detectives）根據嚴謹而全面的研究、自身多年的觀星經驗與熱情，透過小說般的筆法揉合豐富的科學發現歷史與鮮活人物，揭露現代天文學誕生背後一則則不可思議的故事，與仰望星空、持續突破限制的偉大夢想家。

Alan Hirshfeld, Professor of Physics at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and an Associate of the Harvard College Observatory, is the author of Parallax: The Race to Measure the Cosmos, The Electric Life of Michael Faraday, and Eureka Man: The Life and Legacy of Archimedes.

“A masterful balance of science, history and rich narrative.” —Discover magazine

“Astrophysicist Hirshfeld chronicles the radical changes in our conception of the cosmos.” —Scientific American (recommended feature review)

“Hirshfeld tells this climactic discovery of the expanding universe with great verve and sweep, as befits a story whose scope, characters and import leave most fiction far behind.” —Wall Street Journal

“Even today, amateurs trade images over the Internet that professional astronomers incorporate into their work. This abundant crossplay informs Starlight Detectives . . . Author Alan Hirshfeld explains how ‘the human eye itself was a fundamental roadblock to progress’ and how the heroes are the ones who made higher-quality telescopes and photographs. Those who applied substances like collodion, and then gelatin, to create crisper photographic negatives, are key here. And because of mounting technological advances, our era boasts great gains and great excitement. Hirshfeld sums it up: ‘The classical astronomer’s question, ‘Where is a star?’ evolved into the astrophysicist’s more profound inquiry, ‘What is a star?’” —Boston Globe

“Th[e] race to see deep space is told with palpable relish. . . . No less rousing is Hirshfeld’s rendition of the coda, as Edwin Hubble—using the 2.5-metre reflector telescope at Mount Wilson, California—discovered the expansion of the Universe and opened up the cosmos.” —Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science

“Highly illuminating. . . . A delightful, detailed chronicle of great men (and a rare woman) whose fascination with the night sky and the technology necessary to study it led to today’s dramatic discoveries.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Starlight Detectives is just the sort of richly veined book I love to read—full of scientific history and discoveries, peopled by real heroes and rogues, and told with absolute authority. Alan Hirshfeld’s wide, deep knowledge of astronomy arises not only from the most careful scholarship, but also from the years he’s spent at the telescope, posing his own questions to the stars.” —DAVA SOBEL, author of A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos and Longitude