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Do you know the difference between a red giant and a white dwarf? From asteroids to black holes, this easy-to-understand guide takes you on a grand tour of the universe. Featuring updated star maps, charts, and an insert with gorgeous full-color photographs, Astronomy For Dummies provides an easy-to-follow introduction to exploring the night sky. Plus, this new edition also comes with chapter quizzes online to help your understanding.
For as long as people have been walking the earth, those people have looked up into the night sky and wondered about the nature of the cosmos. Without the benefit of science to provide answers, they relied on myth and superstition to help them make sense of what they saw. Lucky for us, we live at a time when regular folks, equipped with nothing more than their naked eyes, can look up into the night sky and gain admittance to infinite wonders. If you know what to look for, you can make out planets, stars, galaxies, and even galactic clusters comprising hundreds of millions of stars and spanning millions of light-years.
Whether you're an amateur astronomer, space enthusiast, or enrolled in a first year astronomy course, Astronomy For Dummies gives you a reason to look into the heavens.
Ever wonder what's out there in the big ol' universe? This is the book for you!
Stephen P. Maran, PhD, is the retired assistant director of space sciences for information and outreach at the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center. An investigator of stars, nebulae, and comets, he worked on the Hubble Space Telescope, Space Shuttle missions, Skylab, and other NASA projects.
Introduction 1
About This Book 2
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: Getting Started with Astronomy 5
Chapter 1: Seeing the Light: The Art and Science of Astronomy 7
Astronomy: The Science of Observation 8
What You See: The Language of Light 9
They wondered as they wandered: Understanding planets versus stars 10
If you see a Great Bear, start worrying: Naming stars and constellations 10
What do I spy? Spotting the Messier Catalog and other sky objects 18
The smaller, the brighter: Getting to the root of magnitudes 19
Looking back on light-years 19
Keep on moving: Figuring the positions of the stars 22
Gravity: A Force to Be Reckoned With 25
Space: A Commotion of Motion 26
Chapter 2: Join the Crowd: Skywatching Activities and Resources 29
You’re Not Alone: Astronomy Clubs, Websites, Smartphone Apps, and More 30
Joining an astronomy club for star-studded company 30
Checking websites, magazines, software, and apps 31
Visiting Observatories and Planetariums 34
Ogling the observatories 35
Popping in on planetariums 38
Vacationing with the Stars: Star Parties, Eclipse Trips, Dark Sky Parks, and More 38
Party on! Attending star parties 39
Getting festive at an AstroFest 40
Tapping into Astronomy on Tap 40
To the path of totality: Taking eclipse cruises and tours 40
Motoring to telescope motels 42
Setting up camp at dark sky parks 44
Chapter 3: Terrific Tools for Observing the Skies 47
Seeing Stars: A Sky Geography Primer 48
As Earth turns 48
keep an eye on the North Star 50
Beginning with Naked-Eye Observation 52
Using Binoculars or a Telescope for a Better View 55
Binoculars: Sweeping the night sky 56
Telescopes: When closeness counts 60
Planning Your First Steps into Astronomy 66
Chapter 4: Just Passing Through: Meteors, Comets, and Artificial Satellites 69
Meteors: Wishing on a Shooting Star 70
Spotting sporadic meteors, fireballs, and bolides 72
Watching a radiant sight: Meteor showers 74
Comets: The Lowdown on Dirty Ice Balls 79
Making heads and tails of a comet’s structure 80
Waiting for the “comets of the century” 84
Hunting for the great comet 86
Artificial Satellites: Enduring a Love–Hate Relationship 88
Skywatching for artificial satellites 89
Finding satellite viewing predictions 91
Part 2: Going Once Around the Solar System 93
Chapter 5: A Matched Pair: Earth and Its Moon 95
Putting Earth under the Astronomical Microscope 96
One of a kind: Earth’s unique characteristics 96
Spheres of influence: Earth’s distinct regions 99
Examining Earth’s Time, Seasons, and Age 101
Orbiting for all time 102
Tilting toward the seasons 103
Estimating Earth’s age 105
Making Sense of the Moon 106
Get ready to howl: Identifying phases of the Moon 107
In the shadows: Watching lunar eclipses 110
Cultivating an interest in the occult(ations) 111
Hard rock: Surveying lunar geology 112
Quite an impact: Considering a theory about the Moon’s origin 117
Chapter 6: Earth’s Near Neighbors: Mercury, Venus, and Mars 119
Mercury: Weird, Hot, and Mostly Metal 120
Dry, Acidic, and Hilly: Steering Clear of Venus 121
Red, Cold, and Barren: Uncovering the Mysteries of Mars 123
Where has all the water gone? 124
Does Mars support life? 126
Differentiating Earth through Comparative Planetology 128
Observing the Terrestrial Planets with Ease 129
Understanding elongation, opposition, and conjunction 130
Viewing Venus and its phases 132
Watching Mars as it loops around 134
Outdoing Copernicus by observing Mercury 138
Chapter 7: Rock On: The Asteroid Belt and Near-Earth Objects 141
Taking a Brief Tour of the Asteroid Belt 141
Understanding the Threat That Near-Earth Objects Pose 145
When push comes to shove: Nudging an asteroid 147
Forewarned is forearmed: Surveying NEOs to protect Earth 148
Searching for Small Points of Light 149
Helping to track an occultation 150
Timing an asteroidal occultation 151
Chapter 8: Great Balls of Gas: Jupiter and Saturn 153
The Pressure’s On: Journeying Inside Jupiter and Saturn 153
Almost a Star: Gazing at Jupiter 154
Scanning for the Great Red Spot 156
Shooting for Galileo’s moons 157
Our Main Planetary Attraction: Setting Your Sights on Saturn 161
Ringing around the planet 161
Storm chasing across Saturn 162
Monitoring a moon of major proportions 163
Venting about geysers on Enceladus 165
Chapter 9: Far Out! Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Beyond 167
Breaking the Ice with Uranus and Neptune 167
Bull’s-eye! Tilted Uranus and its features 168
Against the grain: Neptune and its biggest moon 169
Meeting Pluto, the Amazing Dwarf Planet 170
Getting to the heart of Pluto 171
Looking at Pluto’s makeup 173
The moon chip doesn’t float far from the planet 174
Buckling Down to the Kuiper Belt 175
Viewing the Outer Planets 176
Sighting Uranus 176
Distinguishing Neptune from a star 177
Straining to see Pluto 178
Hunting New Planet Number Nine 178
Part 3: Meeting Old Sol and Other Stars 181
Chapter 10: The Sun: Star of Earth 183
Surveying the Sunscape 184
The Sun’s size and shape: A great bundle of gas 185
The Sun’s regions: Caught between the core and the corona 185
Solar activity: What’s going on out there? 187
Solar wind: Playing with magnets 191
Solar CSI: The mystery of the missing solar neutrinos 192
Four billion and counting: The life expectancy of the Sun 193
Don’t Make a Blinding Mistake: Safe Techniques for Solar Viewing 194
Viewing the Sun by projection 194
Viewing the Sun through front-end filters 198
Fun with the Sun: Solar Observation 200
Tracking sunspots 200
Experiencing solar eclipses 202
Looking at solar pictures on the Net 206
Chapter 11: Taking a Trip to the Stars 209
Life Cycles of the Hot and Massive 210
Young stellar objects: Taking baby steps 211
Main sequence stars: Enjoying a long adulthood 212
Red giants: Burning out the golden years 213
Closing time: Coming up on the tail end of stellar evolution 213
Star Color, Brightness, and Mass 219
Spectral types: What color is my star? 220
Star light, star bright: Luminosity classifications 221
The brighter they burn, the bigger they swell: Mass determines class 222
The H-R diagram 223
Eternal Partners: Binary and Multiple Stars 225
Binary stars and the Doppler effect 225
Two stars are binary, but three’s a crowd: Multiple stars 228
Change Is Good: Variable Stars 230
Go the distance: Pulsating stars 231
Explosive neighbors: Flare stars 232
Nice to nova: Exploding stars 233
Stellar hide-and-seek: Eclipsing binary stars 235
Hog the starlight: Microlensing events 236
Your Stellar Neighbors 237
How to Help Scientists by Observing the Stars 239
Star Studies to Aid with Your Brain and Computer 240
Chapter 12: Galaxies: The Milky Way and Beyond 241
Unwrapping the Milky Way 241
How and when did the Milky Way form? 243
What shape is the Milky Way? 243
Where can you find the Milky Way? 245
Star Clusters: Meeting Galactic Associates 246
A loose fit: Open clusters 246
A tight squeeze: Globular clusters 248
Fun while it lasted: OB associations 250
Taking a Shine to Nebulae 250
Picking out planetary nebulae 252
Breezing through supernova remnants 253
Enjoying Earth’s best nebular views 254
Getting a Grip on Galaxies 256
Surveying spiral, barred spiral, and lenticular galaxies 257
Examining elliptical galaxies 258
Looking at irregular, dwarf, and low surface brightness galaxies 259
Gawking at great galaxies 260
Discovering the Local Group of Galaxies 263
Checking out clusters of galaxies 263
Sizing up superclusters, cosmic voids, and Great Walls 264
Joining Galaxy Zoo for Fun and Science 265
Chapter 13: Digging into Black Holes and Quasars 267
Black Holes: Keeping Your Distance 267
Looking over the black hole roster 268
Poking around the black hole interior 269
Surveying a black hole’s surroundings 271
Warping space and time 272
Detecting black hole collisions 274
Watching stars get swallowed by black holes 275
Quasars: Defying Definitions 276
Measuring the size of a quasar 277
Getting up to speed on jets 277
Exploring quasar spectra 278
Active Galactic Nuclei: Welcome to the Quasar Family 278
Sifting through different types of AGN 278
Examining the power behind AGN 280
Proposing the Unified Model of AGN 281
Part 4: Pondering the Remarkable Universe 283
Chapter 14: Is Anybody Out There? SETI and Planets of Other Suns 285
Using Drake’s Equation to Discuss SETI 286
SETI Projects: Listening for E T 289
The flight of Project Phoenix 290
Space scanning with other SETI projects 291
Hot targets for SETI 292
SETI wants you! 293
Discovering Alien Worlds 293
Changing ideas on exoplanets 294
Finding exoplanets 295
Meeting the (exo)planets 298
Catching Proxima fever: Focusing on red dwarfs 300
Finding Earth-class planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1 302
Checking out planets for fun and science 303
Astrobiology: How’s Life on Other Worlds? 304
Extremophiles: Living the hard way 304
Seeking life in the solar system 305
Chapter 15: Delving into Dark Matter and Antimatter 309
Dark Matter: Understanding the Universal Glue 309
Gathering the evidence for dark matter 310
Debating the makeup of dark matter 314
Taking a Shot in the Dark: Searching for Dark Matter 315
Looking for WIMPs and other microscopic dark matter 316
MACHOs: Making a brighter image 317
Mapping dark matter with gravitational lensing 318
Dueling Antimatter: Proving That Opposites Attract 319
Chapter 16: The Big Bang and the Evolution of the Universe 321
Evidence for the Big Bang 322
Inflation: A Swell Time in the Universe 324
Something from nothing: Inflation and the vacuum 325
Falling flat: Inflation and the shape of the universe 325
Dark Energy: The Universal Accelerator 326
Universal Info Pulled from the Cosmic Microwave Background 327
Finding the lumps in the cosmic microwave background 328
Mapping the universe with the cosmic microwave background 328
In a Galaxy Far Away: Standard Candles and the Hubble Constant 330
Standard candles: How do scientists measure galaxy distances? 330
The Hubble constant: How fast do galaxies really move? 331
The Fate of the Universe 332
Part 5: The Part of Tens 333
Chapter 17: Ten Strange Facts about Astronomy and Space 335
You Have Tiny Meteorites in Your Hair 335
A Comet’s Tail Often Leads the Way 336
Earth Is Made of Rare and Unusual Matter 336
High Tide Comes on Both Sides of Earth at the Same Time 336
On Venus, the Rain Never Falls on the Plain 336
Rocks from Mars Dot Earth 337
Pluto Was Discovered from the Predictions of a False Theory 337
Sunspots Aren’t Dark 337
A Star in Plain View May Have Exploded, but No One Knows 338
You May Have Seen the Big Bang on an Old Television 338
Chapter 18: Ten Common Errors about Astronomy and Space 339
“The Light from That Star Took 1,000 Light-Years to Reach Earth” 339
A Freshly Fallen Meteorite Is Still Hot 340
Summer Always Comes When Earth Is Closest to the Sun 340
The Back of the Moon Is Dark 340
The “Morning Star” Is a Star 340
If You Vacation in the Asteroid Belt, You’ll See Asteroids All Around You 341
Nuking a “Killer Asteroid” on a Collision Course for Earth Will Save Us 341
The Sun Is an Average Star 342
The Hubble Telescope Gets Up Close and Personal 342
The Big Bang Is Dead 342
Part 6: Appendixes 343
Appendix A: Star Maps 345
Appendix B: Glossary 353
Sky Measures 356
Index 357
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