The cosmic perspective

Content: Part 1. Developing perspective --
1. Our place in the universe --
Our modern view of the universe --
The scale of the universe --
Spaceship Earth --
The human adventure of astronomy --
Our cosmic origins --
The meaning of a light-year --
How far is a light-year --
How far is a light year? --
How many planets are there in our solar system? --
The scale of space and time --
Confusing very different things --
Order of magnitude estimation --
Speeds of rotation and orbit --
2. Discovering the universe for yourself --
Patterns in the night sky --
The reasons for seasons --
The Moon, our constant companion --
The ancient mystery of the planets --
Angular size, physical size, and distance --
The Moon illusion --
Stars in the daytime --
What makes the North Star special? --
The cause of seasons --
The seasons --
High noon --
Sun signals --
The "dark side" of the Moon --
Moon in the daytime and stars on the Moon --
Shadows and the Moon --
Does the Moon influence human behavior? --
Who first proposed a sun-centered solar system? --
3. The science of astronomy --
The ancient roots of science --
Ancient Greek science --
The Copernican revolution --
The nature of science --
Astrology --
Columbus and a flat Earth --
Eratosthenes measures Earth --
Eccentricity and planetary orbits --
Kepler's third law --
The Copernican revolution --
And yet it moves --
Eggs on the Equinox --
Logic and science --
S1. Celestial timekeeping and navigation --
Astronomical time periods --
Celestial coordinates and motion in the sky --
Principles of celestial navigation --
The Copernican layout of the solar system --
Solar days and the analemma --
Time by the stars --
Compass directions --
Our expanding perspective --
Part 2. Key concepts for astronomy --
4. Making sense of the universe : understanding motion, energy, and gravity --
Describing motion : examples from daily life --
Newton's laws of motion --
Conservation laws in astronomy --
The universal law of gravitation --
Orbits, tides, and the acceleration of gravity --
No gravity in space? --
What makes a rocket launch? --
Units of force, mass, and weight --
Mass-energy --
Newton's version of Kepler's third law --
The origin of tides --
Escape velocity --
The acceleration of gravity --
5. Light and matter : reading messages from the cosmos --
Light in everyday life --
Properties of light --
Properties of matter --
Learning from light --
The Doppler effect --
What do polarized sunglasses have to do with astronomy? --
Can you hear radio waves? --
What could you see with X-ray vision? --
Is radiation dangerous? --
Wavelength, frequency, and energy --
The illusion of solidity --
One phase at a time? --
Laws of thermal radiation --
Interpreting a spectrum --
The Doppler shift --
6. Telescopes : portals of discovery --
Eyes and cameras : everyday light sensors --
Telescopes : giant eyes --
Telescopes and the atmosphere --
Telescopes and technology --
Angular resolution --
Magnification and telescopes --
The diffraction limit --
Would you like to own your own telescope? --
Twinkle, twinkle, little star --
Closer to the stars? --
The universality of physics --
Part 3. Learning from other worlds --
7. Our planetary system --
Studying the solar system --
Patterns in the solar system --
Spacecraft exploration of the solar system --
The solar system --
How did we learn the scale of the solar system? --
8. Formation of the solar system --
The search for origins --
The birth of the solar system --
The formation of planets --
The aftermath of planet formation --
The age of the solar system --
Solar gravity and the density of planets --
Radiometric dating --
What started the collapse of the solar nebula? --
9. Planetary geology : Earth and the other terrestrial worlds --
Connecting planetary interiors and surfaces --
Shaping planetary surfaces --
Geology of the Moon and Mercury --
Geology of Mars --
Geology of Venus --
The unique geology of Earth --
How do we know what's inside a planet? --
Earth is not full of molten lava --
Pressure and temperature --
The surface area-to-volume ratio --
10. Planetary atmospheres : Earth and the other terrestrial worlds --
Atmospheric basics --
Weather and climate --
Atmospheres of the Moon and Mercury --
The atmospheric history of Mars --
The atmospheric history of Venus --
Earth's unique atmosphere --
"No greenhouse" temperatures --
Higher altitides are always colder --
Why is the sky blue? --
Weather and chaos --
Toliets in the Southern Hemisphere --
Thermal escape from an atmosphere --
Ozone : good or bad? --
The greenhouse effect is bad --
Global warming --
11. Jovian planet systems --
A different kind of planet --
A wealth of worlds : satellites of ice and rock --
Jovian planet rings --
How were Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto discovered? --
12. Asteroids, comets, and dwarf planets : their nature, orbuts, and impacts --
Asteroids and meteorites --
Comets --
Pluto : lone dog no more --
Cosmic collisions : small bodies versus the planets --
Dodge those asteroids! --
13. Other planetary systems : the new science of distant worlds --
Detecting extrasolar planets --
The nature of extrasolar planets --
The formation of other solar systems --
Finding more new worlds --
How did we learn that other stars are suns? --
The names of extrasolar planets --
Finding orbital distances for extrasolar planets --
Finding masses of extrasolar planets --
Finding sizes of extrasolar planets --
Detecting extrasolar planets --
Learning from other worlds Part 4. A deeper look at nature --
S2. Space and time --
Einstein's revolution --
Relative motion --
The reality of space and time --
Toward a new common sense --
What if light can't catch you? --
The time dilation formula --
Formulas of special relativity --
Measuring the speed of light --
Deriving E=mc[superscript]2 --
S3. Spacetime and gravity --
Einstein's second revolution --
Understanding spacetime --
A new view of gravity --
Testing general relativity --
Hyperspace, wormholes, and warp drive --
The last word --
Einstein's leap --
Spacetime geometry --
The twin paradox --
S4. Building blocks of the universe --
The quantum revolution --
Fundamental particles and forces --
Uncertainty and exclusion in the quantum realm --
Key quantum effects in astronomy --
What is string theory? --
Does god play dice? --
Electron waves in atoms --
A deeper look at nature --
Part 5. Stars --
14. Our star --
A closer look at the sun --
The cosmic crucible --
The sun-Earth connection --
The sun is not on fire --
Mass-energy conversion in hydrogen fusion --
Pressure in the sun : the ideal gas law --
15. Surveying the stars --
Properties of the stars --
Patterns among stars --
Star clusters --
The inverse square law for light --
The parallax formula --
The modern magnitude scale --
Photos of stars --
Measuring stellar masses --
Reading an H-R diagram --
Calculating stellar radii --
16. Star birth --
Stellar nurseries --
Stages of star birth --
Masses of newborn stars --
Gravity versus pressure --
17. Star stuff --
Lives in the balance --
Life as a low-mass star --
Life as a high-mass star --
The roles of mass and mass exchange --
How long is 5 billion years? --
Summary of stellar lives --
18. The bizarre stellar graveyard --
White dwarfs --
Neutron stars --
Black holes : gravity's ultimate victory --
The origin of gamma-ray bursts --
The Schwarzschild radius --
Black holes don't suck --
Too strange to be true? --
Balancing pressure and gravity --
Part 6. Galaxies and beyond --
19. Our galaxy --
The Milky Way revealed --
Galactic recycling --
The history of the Milky Way --
The mysterious galactic center --
How did we learn, the structure of the Milky Way? --
How do we determine stellar orbits? --
Using stellar orbits to measure galactic mass --
The sound of space --
What is a nebula? --
20. Galaxies and the foundation of modern cosmology --
Islands of stars --
Measuring galactic distances --
Hubble's law --
Standard candles --
Redshift --
Understanding Hubble's law --
Age from Hubble's constant --
Cosmological redshift and the stretching of light --
Beyond the horizon --
21. Galaxy evolution --
Looking back through time --
The lives of galaxies --
Quasars and other active galactic nuclei --
Feeding a black hole --
Weighing supermassive black holes --
22. Dark matter, dark energy, and the fate of the universe --
Unseen influences in the cosmos --
Evidence for dark matter --
Structure formation --
The fate of the universe --
Mass-to-light ratio --
Pioneers of science --
Finding cluster masses from galaxy orbits --
Finding cluster masses from gas temperature --
Einstein's greatest blunder --
Dark matter and dark energy --
23. The beginning of time --
The big bang --
Evidence for the big bang --
The big bang and inflation --
Observing the big bang for yourself --
The early universe --
The steady state universe --
Temperature and wavelength of background radiation --
How will the universe end? --
Galaxy evolution --
Part 7. Life on Earth and beyond --
24. Life in the universe --
Life on Earth --
Life in the solar system --
Life around other stars --
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence --
Interstellar travel and its implications to civilization --
Evolution and the schools --
What is life? --
Are aliens already here? --
A universe of life?