The Friendly Guide to the UniverseIs anybody out there? How long is a lightyear? And what's a quark, anyway? The Friendly Guide to the Universe answers all these questions and many more in this accessible, fact-crammed compendium, perfect for anyone who wants to have a deeper appreciation of deep space. The Friendly Guide to the Universe is based on the theory that there's nothing dull about the cosmos. Written for readers who already love astronomy as well as for those who have long been afraid to approach the wonders of the celestial spheres, it includes a chronology of the universe from the Big Bang to the decay of all matter; easy-to-understand explanations of key astronomical concepts, from Kepler's laws of planetary motion to the work of Stephen Hawking; a description of our unsuccessful attempts to contact other civilizations - and the many rumors about their attempts to get in touch with us; a history of observation - from Stonehenge to the Keck Telescope, and beyond; a look at the way the starry skies have been portrayed by artists, including Albrecht Durer, Diego Rivera, and Vincent van Gogh; and Myriad quotations from lovers of astronomy as varied as Geoffrey Chaucer, Lord Byron, H. G. Wells, Gertrude Stein, and, above all, James Joyce ... and more. The Friendly Guide to the Universe is designed to be fun to read, with illustrations, sidebars, and at-a-glance maps and charts throughout. Written in a friendly formula all its own, it illuminates not only the mystery and beauty of the solar system, the galaxy, and the universe as a whole, but also the people behind the continuing search for knowledge about the heavens. It's a book that makes for an entertaining, idiosyncratic astronomical companion - one thatwill be irresistible for any earthling who's ever looked skyward in wonder! |
Contents
PART II | 36 |
The Cosmology of the Ancient | 43 |
THE RIDDLE OF RETROGRADE 47 Immanuel Kant and the Birth of | 54 |
Copyright | |
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Andromeda asteroid astronomer atmosphere atoms became Big Bang black hole blue called catalogue celestial century Cepheid variables Chandrasekhar cloud constellation Copernicus cosmic craters created dark discovered discovery distance dust Earth Einstein equator Galileo giant gravity Halley Hawking heavens Herschel horizon Hubble constant Hubble Space Telescope hydrogen Johannes Kepler Jupiter known later light light-years look lunar main sequence Mars Martian mass matter Mercury meteor meteorites miles Diameter Milky million Moon NASA National Optical Astronomy Nebula Neptune neutron Newton night objects observer Optical Astronomy Observatories orbit Orion particles planet planetary Pleiades Pluto predicted quasars radiation revolve rings rotates Sagittarius satellite Saturn scientists Scorpius Shapley Sirius solar eclipse solar system sphere spiral galaxies spot story sunspots supergiant supernova surface Taurus telescope theory thought tion tronomer Tycho universe Uranus variable stars Venus visible white dwarf wrote Yerkes Observatory Yerkes Observatory photograph Zwicky