Galaxies and the Cosmic Frontier

William Howard Waller, Paul W. Hodge

Harvard University Press, 2003 - Science - 317 pages

Orienting us with an insider's tour of our cosmic home, the Milky Way, William Waller and Paul Hodge then take us on a spectacular journey, inviting us to probe the exquisite structures and dynamics of the giant spiral and elliptical galaxies, to witness colliding and erupting galaxies, and to pay our respects to the most powerful galaxies of all--the quasars. A basic guide to the latest news from the cosmic frontier--about the black holes in the centers of galaxies, about the way in which some galaxies cannibalize each other, about the vast distances between galaxies, and about the remarkable new evidence regarding dark energy and the cosmic expansion--this book gives us a firm foundation for exploring the more speculative fringes of our current understanding.

This is a heavily revised and completely updated version of Hodge's Galaxies, which won an Association of American Publishers PROSE Award for Best Science Book of the Year in 1986.

Contents

• Galaxies and the Universe: 3
• Form and Function: 21
• Galactic Anatomy: 35
• The Missing Mass: 60
• Creation and Evolution: 76
• NEARBY GALAXIES: 87
• Interacting and Starbursting Galaxies: 176
• The Most Powerful Galaxies: 188
• OUR GALAXIAN UNIVERSE: 207
• Epilogue: 269
• Glossary: 283
• Illustration Credits: 301

About the author

William H. Waller is Investigator and Liaison for Space Scientists at NASA's New England Space Science Initiative in Education. Paul W. Hodge is Professor of Astronomy, Emeritus, at the University of Washington and Editor-in-Chief of Astronomical Journal.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Galaxies and the Cosmic Frontier
• Authors: William Howard Waller, Paul W. Hodge
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2003
• ISBN: 0674010795, 9780674010796
• Length: 317 pages
• Subjects: Science / Physics / Astrophysics; Science / Physics / General; Science / Space Science / Astronomy