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Books > Science & Mathematics > Astronomy, space & time > Cosmology & the universe
Take a look through the lens and discover the beauty and science of the magnificent night sky - and beyond!
This stunningly-illustrated space book is split into eight sections that cover every aspect of astronomy. Learn about the history of discoveries in the field and astronomical phenomena, from the earliest human civilizations to the present day, and then take a lavish visual tour of the Solar System, complete with the most spectacular photographs of the planets.
A magnificent month-by-month guide to the night sky, with profiles of all 88 constellations, over 100 star charts covering both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and an almanac of astronomical events over the next decade, Astronomy: A Visual Guide will help you to navigate your way around the night sky, and locate stars, galaxies, and other objects.
Soar into the pages of this spectacular space book to reveal:
- All 88 constellations with over 100 star charts and a guide to the latest space-observing equipment.
- Groundbreaking discoveries and the most awe-inspiring images of the universe.
- Written by Ian Ridpath, the editor of Norton's Star Atlas.
- Includes a 10-year calendar of celestial events such as eclipses and comet appearances.
Also featuring no-nonsense advice on how to observe the skies using the naked eye, binoculars, and telescopes, Astronomy: A Visual Guide is the perfect guide for keen amateur astronomers, as well as a great reference book for the whole family.
From a star astrophysicist, a journey into the world of particle physics and the cosmos -- and a call for more just, inclusive practice of science.
Science, like most fields, is set up for men to succeed, and is rife with racism, sexism, and shortsightedness as a result. But as Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein makes brilliantly clear, we all have a right to know the night sky. One of the leading physicists of her generation, she is also one of the fewer than one hundred Black women to earn a PhD in physics. You will enjoy -- and share -- her love for physics, from the Standard Model of Particle Physics and what lies beyond it, to the physics of melanin in skin, to the latest theories of dark matter -- all with a new spin and rhythm informed by pop culture, hip hop, politics, and Star Trek.
This vision of the cosmos is vibrant, inclusive and buoyantly non-traditional. By welcoming the insights of those who have been left out for too long, we expand our understanding of the universe and our place in it.
The Disordered Cosmos is a vision for a world without prejudice that allows everyone to view the wonders of the universe through the same starry eyes.
Gravitational lensing has become an indispensable tool in
observational cosmology. This book provides first the theoretical
foundation of the observations based on general relativity and then
the detailed explanation of gravitational lensing as well as its
various applications in the field.
Does science deny God? Did the Universe and life appear by chance
or is there evidence of a bigger scheme of thing behind them? In
this context, I am concerned with answering these questions. This
problem is addressed using knowledge in cosmology, physics and
biology. The initial part describes the stages of the 'Genesis'
according to physical cosmology from the Big Bang to the appearance
of life on Earth. It will touch on problems of why the universe is
dominated by matter, the theory of inflation, the limits of our
knowledge on the early Universe, the lack of a theory that can
allow us to study the phases immediately after the Big Bang, the
relation between the concepts of quantum mechanics and the
existence of God. It shows how the Universe is finely regulated,
that is, the physical constants have been chosen so that life
appears in the Universe. The regulation is so strong that we are
forced to think the existence of a great designer who has created a
particular Universe like the one we are observing. This conclusion
can be avoided only if there is an infinity of universes, a
multiverse. We ask ourselves if science can create the Universe
from nothing and using the same arguments of cosmologists such as
Krauss (author of The Universe from Nothing). It is now known that
the current science does not allow the creation of a Universe from
absolutely nothing. Physics and cosmology do not deny God. Indeed,
the argument of the fine adjustment of constants is strongly
indicative of the existence of a great designer. Other evidence
confirming this comes from biology. Thousands of experiments in
recent decades highlight the impossibility of generating life in
the laboratory. There is an intrinsic order in life encoded in DNA
that is not present in experiments. Simple calculations show that
the 'blind and aimless' evolution described by neo-Darwinists such
as Dawkins does not allow the generation of life.
Does science deny God? Did the Universe and life appear by chance
or is there evidence of a bigger scheme of thing behind them? In
this context, I am concerned with answering these questions. This
problem is addressed using knowledge in cosmology, physics and
biology. The initial part describes the stages of the 'Genesis'
according to physical cosmology from the Big Bang to the appearance
of life on Earth. It will touch on problems of why the universe is
dominated by matter, the theory of inflation, the limits of our
knowledge on the early Universe, the lack of a theory that can
allow us to study the phases immediately after the Big Bang, the
relation between the concepts of quantum mechanics and the
existence of God. It shows how the Universe is finely regulated,
that is, the physical constants have been chosen so that life
appears in the Universe. The regulation is so strong that we are
forced to think the existence of a great designer who has created a
particular Universe like the one we are observing. This conclusion
can be avoided only if there is an infinity of universes, a
multiverse. We ask ourselves if science can create the Universe
from nothing and using the same arguments of cosmologists such as
Krauss (author of The Universe from Nothing). It is now known that
the current science does not allow the creation of a Universe from
absolutely nothing. Physics and cosmology do not deny God. Indeed,
the argument of the fine adjustment of constants is strongly
indicative of the existence of a great designer. Other evidence
confirming this comes from biology. Thousands of experiments in
recent decades highlight the impossibility of generating life in
the laboratory. There is an intrinsic order in life encoded in DNA
that is not present in experiments. Simple calculations show that
the 'blind and aimless' evolution described by neo-Darwinists such
as Dawkins does not allow the generation of life.
In April 1992, a discovery was made that changed the way we view
the world. Dr. George Smoot, distinguished cosmologist and
adventurer, whose quest for cosmic knowledge had taken him from the
Brazilian rain forest to the South Pole unveiled his momentous
discovery, bringing to light the very nature of the universe. For
anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered, for
anyone who has ever longed to pull aside the fabric of the universe
for a glimpse of what lies behind it. Wrinkles in Time is the story
of Smoot's search to uncover the cosmic seeds of the universe.
Wrinkles in Time is the Double Helix of cosmology, an intimate look
at the inner world of men and women who ask. "Why are we here?" It
tells the story of George Smoot's dogged pursuit of the cosmic
wrinkles in the frozen wastes of Antarctica, on mountaintops, in
experiments borne aloft aboard high-altitude balloons, U-2 spy
planes, and finally a space satellite. Wrinkles in Time presents
the hard science behind the structured violence of the big bang
theory through breathtakingly clear, lucid images and meaningful
comparisons. Scientists and nonscientists alike can follow with
rapt attention the story of how, in a fiery creation, wrinkles
formed in space ultimately to become stars, galaxies, and even
greater delicate structures. Anyone can appreciate the implications
of a universe whose end is written in its beginnings - whose course
developed according to a kind of cosmic DNA, which guided the
universe from simplicity and symmetry to ever-greater complexity
and structure. As controversial as it may seem today, Wrinkles in
Time reveals truths that, in an earlier century, would have doomed
its proclaimers to thefiery stake. For four thousand years some
people have accepted the Genesis account of cosmic origin; for most
of this century, scientists debated two rival scientific
explanations known as the steady state and big bang theories. And
now, Wrinkles in Time tells what really happened
Was there a beginning of time? Could time run backwards? Is the
universe infinite or does it have boundaries? These are just some
of the questions considered in the internationally acclaimed
masterpiece by the world renowned physicist - generally considered
to have been one of the world's greatest thinkers. It begins by
reviewing the great theories of the cosmos from Newton to Einstein,
before delving into the secrets which still lie at the heart of
space and time, from the Big Bang to black holes, via spiral
galaxies and strong theory. To this day A Brief History of Time
remains a staple of the scientific canon, and its succinct and
clear language continues to introduce millions to the universe and
its wonders. This new edition includes recent updates from Stephen
Hawking with his latest thoughts about the No Boundary Proposal and
offers new information about dark energy, the information paradox,
eternal inflation, the microwave background radiation observations,
and the discovery of gravitational waves. It was published in
tandem with the app, Stephen Hawking's Pocket Universe.
Bringing his cosmic perspective to civilization on Earth, Neil
deGrasse Tyson, bestselling author of Astrophysics for People in a
Hurry, shines new light on the crucial fault lines of our time-war,
politics, religion, truth, beauty, gender, race, and tribalism-in a
way that stimulates a deeper sense of unity for us all. In a time
when our political and cultural perspectives feel more divisive
than ever, Tyson provides a much-needed antidote to so much of what
divides us, while making a passionate case for the twin engines of
enlightenment-a cosmic perspective and the rationality of science.
After thinking deeply about how a scientist views the world and
about what Earth looks like from space, Tyson has found that
terrestrial thoughts change as our brain resets and recalibrates
life's priorities, along with the actions we might take in
response. As a result, no outlook on culture, society, or
civilisation remains untouched. In Starry Messenger, Tyson reveals
just how human the enterprise of science is. Far from a cold,
unfeeling undertaking, scientific methods, tools, and discoveries
have shaped modern civilisation and created the landscape we've
built for ourselves on which to live, work, and play. Tyson shows
how an infusion of science and rational thinking renders worldviews
deeper and more informed than ever before-and exposes unfounded
perspectives and unjustified emotions. With crystalline prose and
an abundance of evidence, Starry Messenger walks us through the
scientific palette that sees and paints the world differently. From
lessons on resolving global conflict to reminders of how precious
it is to be alive, Tyson reveals, with warmth and eloquence, ten
surprising, brilliant, and beautiful truths of human society,
informed and enlightened by knowledge of our place in the universe.
This book describes some of the frontier problems of cosmology: our
almost total ignorance of what the Universe is made up of, the
mystery of its origin and its end. The book starts with a
description of the historical events that led to the construction
of the Big Bang model together with the stages that transformed the
Universe from a very hot place to a very cold one, full with the
structures that we observe today. These structures (stars,
galaxies, etc.) constitute only 5% of the contents of the Universe.
Concerning the remaining 95%, dubbed dark matter and dark energy,
we know very little, and we have only indirect evidence of their
existence. The text describes the story and the protagonists who
showed the need for the existence of this 'missing matter', the
observations, and puzzles they had to solve to understand that dark
matter was not ordinary matter. The book describes the hunt for
dark matter, carried out with instruments operating in space, on
the Earth's surface, and in laboratories built in the bowels of the
Earth. It also describes dark energy, which manifests itself in the
accelerated expansion of the Universe, and appeared only a few
billions of years ago. The book discusses why dark energy must
exist and what its existence implies, especially for the future and
the end of our Universe.
This book discusses analogies between relativistic cosmology and
various physical systems or phenomena, mostly in the earth
sciences, that are described formally by the same equations. Of the
two independent equations describing the universe as a whole, one
(the Friedmann equation) has the form of an energy conservation
equation for one-dimensional motion. The second equation is fairly
easy to satisfy (although not automatic): as a result, cosmology
lends itself to analogies with several systems. Given that a
variety of universes are mathematically possible, several analogies
exist. Analogies discussed in this book include equilibrium beach
profiles, glacial valleys, the shapes of glaciers, heating/cooling
models, freezing bodies of water, capillary fluids, Omori's law for
earthquake aftershocks, lava flows, and a few mathematical
analogies (Fibonacci's sequence, logistic equation, geodesics of
various spaces, and classic variational problems). A century of
research in cosmology can solve problems on the other side of an
analogy, which in turn can suggest ideas in gravity. Finding a
cosmic analogy solves the inverse variational problem of finding a
Lagrangian and a Hamiltonian for that system, when nobody thought
one exists. Often, the symmetries of the cosmological equations
translate in new symmetries of the analogous system. The book
surprises the reader with analogies between natural systems and
exotic systems such as possible universes.
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