How It Began A Time-Traveler's Guide to the Universe

by Impey, Chris

• ISBN13: 9780393080025
• ISBN10: 0393080021
• Edition: 00
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-03-26
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

Telescopes are like time machines. Because it takes time for light to reach us, we see more and more distant regions of the universe as they looked in the successively greater past. Astronomer Chris Impey uses this concept of '¬Slook-back time'¬ to take us on an intergalactic tour from current-day Earth to the first fractions of a second after the Big Bang. Pausing at landmarks such as the oldest star and the first ray of light, Impey not only provides stunning visual descriptions but also illustrates the latest theories of the origin of everything from black holes to matter itself. Along the way he introduces us to researchers tackling such mysteries as cosmic infla-tion and the possibility of parallel universes. Enlivened by vivid descriptions and lucid explanations, How It Began offers a breathtaking tour from the familiar sights of the night sky to the most remote frontiers of the enigmatic early universe.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Proximate
Separated at Birth	p. 3
Planetary Zoo	p. 23
Distant Worlds	p. 45
Stellar Nursery	p. 71
The Edge of Darkness	p. 95
Remote
Island Universe	p. 121
Cosmic Architecture	p. 143
Nuclear Power	p. 167
The Growth of Galaxies	p. 189
Light and Life	p. 215
Alien
Big Bang	p. 239
White Heat	p. 265
Something Rather Than Nothing	p. 289
Unification and Inflation	p. 311
Multiverse	p. 337
Notes	p. 363
Illustration Credits	p. 417
Index	p. 419
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