Dispatches from Planet 3: Thirty-Two (Brief) Tales on the Solar System, the Milky Way, and Beyond

Description

An award-winning science writer presents a captivating collection of cosmological essays for the armchair astronomer   The galaxy, the multiverse, and the history of astronomy are explored in this engaging compilation of cosmological “tales” by multiple award†‘winning science writer Marcia Bartusiak. In thirty†‘two concise and engrossing essays, the author provides a deeper understanding of the nature of the universe and those who strive to uncover its mysteries. Bartusiak shares the back stories for many momentous astronomical discoveries, including the contributions of such pioneers as Beatrice Tinsley and her groundbreaking research in galactic evolution, and Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the scientist who first discovered radio pulsars. An endlessly fascinating collection that you can dip into in any order, these pieces will transport you to ancient Mars, when water flowed freely across its surface; to the collision of two black holes, a cosmological event that released fifty times more energy than was radiating from every star in the universe; and to the beginning of time itself. Contents Preface One. Earth Is but a Speck Celestial Neighborhood Two. Bedazzled by a Comet Three. To Be . . . or Not to Be a Planet Four. The Watery Allure of Mars Five. Rings, Rings, Rings Six. The Baffling White Dwarf Star Seven. The Star No Bigger Than a City Eight. Ye Old Black Hole Nine. As Though No Other Name Ever Existed Ten. Like This World of Ours Realm of the Galaxies Eleven. Our Spiraling Home Twelve. The Woman Who Chased Galaxies Thirteen. Stuff of the Heavens Fourteen. Recipe for the Stars Fifteen. Find a Way Around It Sixteen. Dark Matters Seventeen. Cosmic Funhouse Eighteen. Rivers of Galaxies Nineteen. The Big Dipper Is Crying Twenty. Einstein’s Symphony Twenty- one. Underground Astronomy Twenty- two. Eavesdropping on the Universe Twenty- three. The Once and Future Quasar To the Big Bang and Beyond Twenty- four. Finding a Cosmic Yardstick Twenty- five. The Cosmologist Left Behind Twenty- six. The Primeval Atom Twenty- seven. Proving the Big Bang Twenty- eight. It’s Now Einstein’s Universe Twenty- nine. The Big Burp Thirty. The Great Escape Thirty- one. Meet the Multiverse Thirty- two. When the Universe Began, What Time Was It? Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index