Discovering The Cosmos

This text has two objectives: to describe the leading ideas and concepts of modern astronomy; and to indicate how astronomy in particular and physical science in general developed, what its methods are, its goals and its limitations.

"Easy-to-read guide to the universe. Includes information on the planets, and other astrological entities"--

Based on Bob Bless's extensive experience teaching astronomy courses, this book provides a rich, historical approach to introductory astronomy. In the fifteen years since the first edition of this text was published, several new concepts such as dark matter, dark energy, and an incredible expansion of the universe (inflation) have been developed. Furthermore, many of the exotic effects predicted by General Relativity (e.g. black holes, warped space) have gone from being interesting theoretical speculations to useful practical tools for understanding the universe. This book aims to give an overview of astronomy, but in such a way that the non-science major can get a feeling for how science actually developed with its false starts and wrong turns, which observational evidence eventually corrected. Several chapters of the second edition have been extensively revised to include the incredible recent developments in our understanding of the physical universe. This streamlined new edition is ideal for use as the primary text in an introductory astronomy course for nonmajors.

This is a book about universes. It tells a story that revolves around a single extraordinary fact: that Albert Einstein's famous theory of relativity describes a series of entire universes. Not many solutions to Einstein's tantalising universe equations have ever been found, but those that have are all remarkable. Some describe universes that expand in size, while others contract. Some rotate like a top, while others are chaotically unpredictable. Some are perfectly smooth, while others are lumpy. Some permit time travel into the past. Only a few allow life to evolve within them; the rest, if they exist, remain unknown and unknowable to conscious minds. Here, in The Book of Universes, we are confronted with the most fantastic and far-reaching speculations within the entire realm of science.

Table of contents

This illustrated history of astronomy features both photographs and historical and contemporary documents from the archives of astronomical institutions, including NASA.

The launch of the Sputnik satellite in October 1957 changed the course of human history. In the span of a few years, Soviets sent the first animal into space, the first man, and the first woman. These events were a direct challenge to the United States and the capitalist model that claimed ownership of scientific aspiration and achievement. Into the Cosmos shows us the fascinating interplay of Soviet politics, science, and culture during the Khrushchev era, and how the space program became a binding force between these elements.