Although space travel has been a topic of great interest to many, few have an understanding of the ultimate limits that will determine its possibilities. One thing is certain. No matter the advancement in technology, whether earthling or extraterrestrial, energy requirements will determine ultimate success in space travel. True, technology will play a part. Among other things, it will determine the kinds of fuels that will be useable in deep space travel and that will, in the end, determine its successes.
Are we ultimately going to be able to travel outside our own solar system to reach other worlds? Have extraterrestrials really visited us in the past? These are the questions addressed in this book. It is written for the layman, and does not require a technical background.

The study of dark matter, in both astrophysics and particle physics, has emerged as one of the most active and exciting topics of research in recent years. This book reviews the history behind the discovery of missing mass (or unseen mass) in the Universe, and ties this into the proposed extensions to the Standard Model of Particle Physics (such as Supersymmetry), which were being proposed within the same time frame. This book is written as an introduction to these problems at the forefront of astrophysics and particle physics, with the goal of conveying the physics of dark matter to beginning undergraduate majors in scientific fields. The book goes onto describe existing and upcoming experiments and techniques, which will be used to detect dark matter either directly on indirectly.

On March 21, 2013, the European Space Agency released a map of the afterglow of the Big Bang. Taking in 440 sextillion kilometres of space and 13.8 billion years of time, it is physically impossible to make a better map: we will never see the early universe in more detail. On the one hand, such a view is the apotheosis of modern cosmology, on the other, it threatens to undermine almost everything we hold cosmologically sacrosanct. The map contains anomalies that challenge our understanding of the universe. It will force us to revisit what is known and what is unknown, to construct a new model of our universe. This is the first book to address what will be an epoch-defining scientific paradigm shift. Stuart Clark will ask if Newton's famous laws of gravity need to be rewritten; if dark matter and dark energy are just celestial phantoms? Can we ever know what happened before the Big Bang? What's at the bottom of a black hole? Are there universes beyond our own? Does time exist? Are the once immutable laws of physics changing?

Taking inspiration from Siv Cedering's poem in the form of a fictional letter from Caroline Herschel that refers to "my long, lost sisters, forgotten in the books that record our science", this book tells the lives of twenty-five female scientists, with specific attention to astronomers and mathematicians. Each of the presented biographies is organized as a kind of "personal file" which sets the biographee's life in its historical context, documents her main works, highlights some curious facts, and records citations about her. The selected figures are among the most representative of this neglected world, including such luminaries as Hypatia of Alexandra, Hildegard of Bingen, Elisabetha Hevelius, and Maria Gaetana Agnesi. They span a period of about 4000 years, from En HeduAnna, the Akkadian princess, who was one of the first recognized female astronomers, to the dawn of the era of modern astronomy with Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville. The book will be of interest to all who wish to learn more about the women from antiquity to the nineteenth century who played such key roles in the history of astronomy and science despite living and working in largely male-dominated worlds.

This is the first of a two-volume set that deal with the entire Milky Way. This first volume looks at what can be seen predominantly from the Northern Skies. In addition to the descriptive text, there are many star charts and maps, as well as the latest up-to-date images made by observatories around the world and in space, as well as images taken by amateur astronomers.

1543 saw the publication of one of the most significant scientific works ever written: De revolutionibus (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres), in which Nicolaus Copernicus presented a radically different structure of the cosmos by placing the sun, and not the earth, at the centre of the universe. But did anyone take notice? Harvard astrophysicist Owen Gingerich was intrigued by the bold claim made by Arthur Koestler in his bestselling The Sleepwalkers that sixteenth-century Europe paid little attention to the groundbreaking, but dense, masterpiece. Gingerich embarked on a thirty-year odyssey to examine every extant copy to prove Koestler wrong... Logging thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of miles Gingerich uncovered a treasure trove of material on the life of a book and the evolution of an idea. His quest led him to copies once owned by saints, heretics, and scallywags, by musicians and movie stars; some easily accessible, others almost lost to time, politics and the black market. Part biography of a book and a man, part bibliographic and bibliophilic quest, Gingerich's The Book Nobody Read is an utterly captivating piece of writing, a testament to the power both of books and the love of books.

Alien Skies: A Travelogue of the Universe gives readers the opportunity to travel through the universe, visiting a series of celestial destinations carefully chosen to span the extraordinary limits of space and time that bound our amazing cosmos. The destinations in Alien Skies reveal the unusual skies seen from throughout the solar system, nearby stars, nebulae, and star clusters, and during a series of voyages exploring the structure and content of our home galaxy. The itinerary includes nearby 'normal' galaxies, exotic active galaxies, as well as galaxy groups, clusters and cosmic voids. The final destinations of the journey traverse space and time to view the evolution of galaxies and cosmic structure, and of the universe as a whole. Alien Skies provides a broad, factual overview of modern astronomy, while instilling interest and enthusiasm of how science reveals the wonders of our universe. This book can serve as the text for introductory courses aimed at non-science majors or as background for courses geared to astronomy and astrophysics majors. It is also suitable for advanced courses at the high school level.

What does it take to consider a planet potentially habitable? If a planet is suitable for life, could life be present? Is life on other planets inevitable? Searching for Habitable Worlds answers these questions and provides both the general public and astronomy enthusiasts with a richly illustrated discussion of the most current knowledge regarding the search for extrasolar planets. Nearly everyone wants to know if we are alone in the universe. This book might not have the answers, but shows where we should look. This book is a fun and accessible book for everyone from middle schoolers to amateur astronomers of all ages. The use of non-technical language and abundant illustrations make this a quick read to inform everyone about the latest movement in the search for other planets that we might be able to inhabit. After a brief discussion on why humans are hard-wired to be curious, and to explore the unknown, the book describes what extrasolar planets are, how to detect them, and how to pin down potential targets. In addition, a data-driven list of the best candidates for habitability is profiled and the next generation of exoplanet-hunting scientific instruments and probes are identified.