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Cosmos A to Z

The Cosmos A to Z by Laura Danly

Admiral Jonny Archer label

The inside of young Archer's copy of the book

The Cosmos A to Z was an astronomy book written by Laura Danly. The front cover featured an image of the Arachnid Nebula. An edition of the book stated that the nebula is 6.5 billion kilometers in diameter.

The cover of the book further stated:

Your complete guide to the heavens
StarsPlanetsNebulaeGalaxies
Including the Terra Nova expedition

and the back cover of the book paraphrased Zefram Cochrane:

"The essential guide to space, the final frontier! Now you can explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, boldly go where no one has gone before!"

On his eighth birthday in 2120, Jonathan Archer was given a copy of the book by his father, Henry Archer. Jonathan spent hours staring at the front cover of The Cosmos A to Z, his first astronomy book. On the inside, he had written in a childish scrawl, "From the library of Admiral Johnny Archer"

By 2151, Archer had become the captain of the Starfleet vessel Enterprise NX-01 and had the opportunity to see the Arachnid Nebula for himself. Ensign Travis Mayweather, Enterprise's helmsman, reported that the nebula was more than eight billion kilometers in diameter, not 6.5 billion. Ensign Hoshi Sato, the starship's communications officer, suggested sending the correction to the publishers of The Cosmos A to Z so that they could release a revised edition of the book. (ENT: "Fusion")

In the first draft script of "Fusion" (which had the working title "Equilibrium"), the name of this book was instead, "Going to the Stars!"
The book jacket was designed by graphic designer Geoffrey Mandel. (Star Trek Encyclopedia (4th ed., vol. 1, p. 164))
The book was auctioned off as Lot #168 at the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction. [1]
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