The Universe and Beyond

by Dickinson, Terence; Gibson, Edward

• ISBN13: 9781552093610
• ISBN10: 1552093611
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-01
• Publisher: Firefly Books Ltd

Summary

Award-winning astronomy writer Terence Dickinson takes readers on a factual journey in space and time from the Earth's surface to the most remote boundaries of the universe - and beyond. This major revision of an astronomy classic features 50 new photographs and illustrations, including the latest images from the Hubble space telescope, the Galileo spacecraft and other NASA missions. Additional imagery of the universe is from recently completed giant telescopes situated at remote mountaintops in Hawaii and Chile. This edition also includes extensively updated information on Mars and Jupiter; a completely new section on comets; full coverage of the latest evidence for the existence of black holes; an expanded section on galaxies and the mysterious "dark matter"; a fully updated section on the size, age and destiny of the universe; and expanded data tables using information released in 1998 from the Hipparchos satellite, which achieved a tenfold increase in the accuracy of celestial distance determination.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 7
Preface	p. 9
A Journey Through Time and Space	p. 11
Introduction
Cosmic Dimensions
Overview of the Universe
Nearby Worlds	p. 21
Origin of the Planets
Why Mars and Venus Are Different From Earth
Exploring the Martian Surface
Problems With the Ecosphere
Mercury
Realm of the Giants	p. 41
Jupiter the Colossus
Life in a Hydrogen Atmosphere
Saturn and Its Rings
Uranus and Neptune
Ice Worlds	p. 55
Callisto's Ice Craters
Ganymede's Grooves
Europa's Ocean
Io's Volcanoes
Titan's Glaciers
Triton, Pluto and Comets
The Kuiper Belt, Sedna and the Oort Cloud
Cosmic Furnaces	p. 73
Nearby Stars
Planets of Other Stars
Red Dwarfs, Brown Dwarfs
Death of a Star
Supernovas
Black Holes
Galaxies	p. 99
Origin of Galaxies
Galactic Collisions
Quasars and Giant Black Holes
Into the Abyss	p. 117
The Expanding-and Accelerating-Universe
The Enigma of the Dark Matter and Dark Energy
Origin of the Universe
Cosmic Inflation
Other Universes
In Search of Extraterrestrials	p. 137
Assessing the Possibilities
Do They Know About Us?
What About UFOs?
Will We Make Contact?
How the Universe Will End	p. 149
Fire or Ice?
Asimov's Last Question
Contemplating the Cosmos
Telescopes for the 21st Century	p. 155
A 100-Meter Giant?
Reflections on Astronomical Illustration	p. 163
Astronomical Data	p. 166
Further Reading	p. 176
Illustration Credits	p. 177
Index	p. 178
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.