The Astronomy Book

6 Contents......Page 8
10 INTRODUCTIONFROM......Page 12
20 It is clear that Earth does not move......Page 22
21 Earth revolves around the sun on the circumference of a circle......Page 23
22 The equinoxes move over time......Page 24
23 The moon’s brightness is produced by the radiance of the sun......Page 25
24 All matters useful to the theory of heavenly things......Page 26
26 The unmoving stars go uniformly westward......Page 28
27 A little cloud in the night sky......Page 29
28 A new calendar for China......Page 30
30 We have re-observed all of the stars in Ptolemy’s catalog......Page 32
32 Finally we shall place the sun himself at the center of the universe......Page 34
44 I noticed a new and unusual star......Page 46
48 Mira Ceti is a variable star......Page 50
50 The most true path of the planet is an ellipse......Page 52
56 Our own eyes show us four stars traveling around Jupiter......Page 58
64 A perfectly circular spot centered on the sun......Page 66
65 New moons around Saturn......Page 67
66 Gravity explains the motions of the planets......Page 68
74 I dare venture to foretell that the comet will return again in the year 1758......Page 76
78 These discoveries are the most brilliant and useful of the century......Page 80
79 A catalog of the southern sky......Page 81
84 I found that it is a comet, for it has changed its place......Page 86
86 The brightness of the star was altered......Page 88
87 Our Milky Way is the dwelling, the nebulae are the cities......Page 89
88 On the construction of the heavens......Page 90
90 Rocks fall from space......Page 92
92 The mechanism of the heavens......Page 94
94 I surmise that it could be something better than a comet......Page 96
100 A survey of the whole surface of the heavens......Page 102
102 An apparent movement of the stars......Page 104
103 Sunspots appear in cycles......Page 105
104 A spiral form of arrangement was detected......Page 106
106 The planet whose position you have pointed out actually exists......Page 108
112 Sodium is to be found in the solar atmosphere......Page 114
113 Stars can be grouped by their spectra......Page 115
114 Enormous masses of luminous gas......Page 116
116 The sun’s yellow prominence differs from any terrestrial flame......Page 118
117 Mars is traversed by a dense network of channels......Page 119
118 Photographing the stars......Page 120
120 A precise measurement of the stars......Page 122
122 Classifying the stars according to their spectra reveals their age and size......Page 124
128 There are two kinds of red star......Page 130
129 Sunspots are magnetic......Page 131
130 The key to a distance scale of the universe......Page 132
138 Stars are giants or dwarfs......Page 140
140 Penetrating radiation is coming from space......Page 142
141 A white hot star that is too faint......Page 143
146 Time and space and gravitation have no separate existence from matter......Page 148
154 An exact solution to relativity predicts black holes......Page 156
156 The spiral nebulae are stellar systems......Page 158
162 Stars are dominated by hydrogen and helium......Page 164
164 Our galaxy is rotating......Page 166
166 A slow process of annihilation of matter......Page 168
168 A day without yesterday......Page 170
172 The universe is expanding in all directions......Page 174
178 White dwarfs have a maximum mass......Page 180
179 The radio universe......Page 181
180 An explosive transition to a neutron star......Page 182
182 The source of energy in stars is nuclear fusion......Page 184
184 A reservoir of comets exists beyond the planets......Page 186
185 Some galaxies have active regions at their centers......Page 187
186 The match of lunar and Earth material is too perfect......Page 188
188 Important new discoveries will be made with flying telescopes......Page 190
196 It took less than an hour to make the atomic nuclei......Page 198
198 Stars are factories for the chemical elements......Page 200
200 Sites of star formation......Page 202
206 A vast cloud surrounds the solar system......Page 208
207 Comets are dirty snowballs......Page 209
208 The way to the stars is open......Page 210
210 The search for interstellar communications......Page 212
212 Meteorites can vaporize on impact......Page 214
213 The sun rings like a bell......Page 215
214 The data can best be explained as X-rays from sources outside the solar system......Page 216
218 Brighter than a galaxy, but it looks like a star......Page 220
222 An ocean of whispers left over from our eruptive creations......Page 224
228 The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is a search for ourselves......Page 230
236 It has to be some new kind of star......Page 238
240 Galaxies change over time......Page 242
242 We choose to go to the moon......Page 244
250 The planets formed from a disk of gas and dust......Page 252
252 Solar neutrinos can only be seen with a very large detector......Page 254
254 A star that we couldn’t see......Page 256
255 Black holes emit radiation......Page 257
260 A grand tour of the giant planets......Page 262
268 Most of the universe is missing......Page 270
272 Negative pressures produce repulsive gravity......Page 274
274 Galaxies appear to be on the surfaces of bubblelike structures......Page 276
276 Stars form from the inside out......Page 278
280 Wrinkles in time......Page 282
286 The Kuiper belt is real......Page 288
288 Most stars are orbited by planets......Page 290
296 The most ambitious map of the universe ever......Page 298
297 Our galaxy harbors a massive central black hole......Page 299
298 Cosmic expansion is accelerating......Page 300
304 Peering back over 13.5 billion years......Page 306
306 Our mission is to land on a comet......Page 308
312 The violent birth of the solar system......Page 314
314 A close-up view of an oddball of the solar system......Page 316
318 A laboratory on Mars......Page 320
326 The biggest eye on the sky......Page 328
328 Ripples through spacetime......Page 330
332 DIRECTORY......Page 334
340 GLOSSARY......Page 342
344 INDEX......Page 346
352 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 354