Neil Comins' Discovering the Universe confronts the challenges of the one-term astronomy course by heightening student curiosities about the cosmos, by using the context of astronomy to teach the process of science, and by highlighting common misconceptions and showing students how to think their way past them.

In this engaging and accessible exploratory work, accomplished astrophysicist Neil F. Comins shows how ten hypothetical astronomical situations would affect our planet and life on it. What if the Moon didn't exist, for example? The Earth would be rotating much faster than it presently does, tides would be lower, and life would be much more primitive than it is today. "What if the Moon Didn't Exist?" has been made into TV, radio, planetarium, and theater shows, and became the theme to Mitsubishi's pavilion at the World Expo in Nagoya, Japan in 2005.

Praise for What if the Moon Didn't Exist

..".a new genre...Seductively cunning...All these "what-ifs" have the cumulative effect of making us excruciatingly aware of what a special and precarious place we inhabit - and how easy it would have been for it to be otherwise." -The Washington Post

"Imaginative and stimulating." -Booklist

"Comins's scientific expertise is dizzying. It takes a rare writer to manipulate so many unknown factors with such ease and convincing detail. This book will thrill everyone who can't help wondering "what if..." -Astronomy Book Club

"What if?" questions have always stimulated people to think in new ways. "What if the Earth Had Two Moons "leads us on a fascinating 10 world journey exploring what the Earth would be like if conditions in the universe were slightly different. The answer: Earth would be different, often in ways that would surprise us. The title chapter, for example, gives us a second moon orbiting closer to Earth than the one we have now. The night sky is a lot brighter, but not forever. Eventually the moons collide, with one more-massive moon emerging after a period during which Earth has a Saturn-like ring. The scenarios also shed new light on the burgeoning search for life on planets orbiting other stars.

Appealing to adult and young adult alike, this book is a fascinating journey through physics and astronomy, and follows on the author's previous bestseller, "What if the Moon Didn't Exist?, "with completely new scenarios backed by the latest astronomical research.