The Essential Cosmic Perspective ()

Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 2
Copyright Page......Page 3
Dedication......Page 4
Brief Contents......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 10
About the Authors......Page 19
How to Succeed......Page 21
Foreword......Page 23
Learning Goals......Page 26
1.1. The Scale of the Universe......Page 27
1.2. The History of the Universe......Page 35
1.3. Spaceship Earth......Page 40
Exercises and Problems......Page 46
Cosmic Calculations 1.1: How Far Is a Light-Year?......Page 29
Basic Astronomical Definitions......Page 30
Common Misconceptions: The Meaning of a Light-Year......Page 31
Special Topic: How Many Planets Are in Our Solar System?......Page 32
Common Misconceptions: Confusing Very Different Things......Page 33
Cosmic Context: Figure 1.9 Our Cosmic Origins......Page 37
Learning Goals......Page 49
2.1. Patterns in the Night Sky......Page 50
2.2. The Reason for Seasons......Page 57
Common Misconceptions: Sun Signs......Page 64
2.4. The Ancient Mystery of the Planets......Page 71
Exercises and Problems......Page 75
Common Misconceptions: The Moon Illusion......Page 53
Cosmic Calculations 2.1: Angular Size, Physical Size, and Distance......Page 54
Common Misconceptions: Stars in the Daytime......Page 55
Common Misconceptions: What Makes the North Star Special?......Page 56
Special Topic: How Long Is a Day?......Page 58
Cosmic Context: Figure 2.15 The Seasons......Page 59
Common Misconceptions: High Noon......Page 62
Common Misconceptions: Shadows and the Moon......Page 65
Common Misconceptions: Moon in the Daytime......Page 66
Common Misconceptions: The “Dark Side” of the Moon......Page 67
Learning Goals......Page 78
3.1. The Ancient Roots of Science......Page 79
3.2. Ancient Greek Science......Page 83
Common Misconceptions: Columbus and a Flat Earth......Page 86
Extraordinary Claims: Earth Orbits the Sun......Page 93
Exercises and Problems......Page 102
Cosmic Calculations 3.1: Eratosthenes Measures Earth......Page 84
Cosmic Calculations 3.2: Kepler’s Third Law......Page 90
Cosmic Context: Figure 3.22 The Copernican Revolution......Page 95
Common Misconceptions: Eggs on the Equinox......Page 97
Special Topic: Astrology......Page 98
Cosmic Context: Part I At a Glance: Our Expanding Perspective......Page 105
Learning Goals......Page 107
4.1. Describing Motion: Examples from Daily Life......Page 108
4.2. Newton’s Laws of Motion......Page 112
Common Misconceptions: What Makes a Rocket Launch?......Page 115
4.4. The Force of Gravity......Page 120
Exercises and Problems......Page 127
Common Misconceptions: No Gravity in Space?......Page 111
Cosmic Calculations 4.1: Newton’s Version of Kepler’s Third Law......Page 121
Common Misconceptions: The Origin of Tides......Page 123
Special Topic: Why Does the Moon Always Show the Same Face to Earth?......Page 124
Learning Goals......Page 130
5.1. Basic Properties of Light and Matter......Page 131
5.2. Learning from Light......Page 137
5.3. Collecting Light with Telescopes......Page 144
Exercises and Problems......Page 156
Common Misconceptions: Can You Hear Radio Waves or See an X Ray?......Page 134
Common Misconceptions: The Illusion of Solidity......Page 136
Cosmic Calculations 5.1: Laws of Thermal Radiation......Page 142
Cosmic Calculations 5.2: The Doppler Shift......Page 143
Cosmic Context: Figure 5.16 Interpreting a Spectrum......Page 145
Extraordinary Claims: We Can Never Learn the Composition of Stars......Page 147
Common Misconceptions: Magnification and Telescopes......Page 148
Special Topic: Would You Like Your Own Telescope?......Page 149
Common Misconceptions: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star......Page 152
Common Misconceptions: Closer to the Stars?......Page 153
Cosmic Context: Part II At a Glance: The Universality of Physics......Page 159
Learning Goals......Page 161
6.1. A Brief Tour of the Solar System......Page 162
6.2. The Nebular Theory of Solar System Formation......Page 176
6.3. Explaining the Major Features of the Solar System......Page 179
6.4. The Age of the Solar System......Page 188
Exercises and Problems......Page 193
Cosmic Context: Figure 6.1 The Solar System......Page 163
Common Misconceptions: Solar Gravity and the Density of Planets......Page 183
Extraordinary Claims: A Giant Impact Made by Our Moon......Page 187
Cosmic Calculations 6.1: Radiometric Dating......Page 191
Learning Goals......Page 196
7.1. Earth as a Planet......Page 197
7.2. The Moon and Mercury: Geologically Dead......Page 208
7.3. Mars: A Victim of Planetary Freeze-Drying......Page 210
7.4. Venus: A Hothouse World......Page 219
7.5. Earth as a Living Planet......Page 223
Exercises and Problems......Page 236
Common Misconceptions: Earth Is Not Full of Molten Lava......Page 198
Special Topic: Seismic Waves......Page 200
Cosmic Calculations 7.1: The Surface Area–to–Volume Ratio......Page 201
Common Misconceptions: Why Is the Sky Blue?......Page 206
Extraordinary Claims: Martians!......Page 211
Common Misconceptions: The Greenhouse Effect Is Bad......Page 227
Extraordinary Claims: Human Activity Can Change the Climate......Page 230
Cosmic Context: Figure 7.49 Global Warming......Page 231
Learning Goals......Page 239
8.1. A Different Kind of Planet......Page 240
8.2. A Wealth of Worlds: Satellites of Ice and Rock......Page 247
8.3. Jovian Planet Rings......Page 257
Exercises and Problems......Page 262
Learning Goals......Page 265
9.1. Classifying Small Bodies......Page 266
9.2. Asteroids......Page 269
Common Misconceptions: Dodge Those Asteroids!......Page 273
9.4. Pluto and the Kuiper Belt......Page 277
9.5. Cosmic Collisions: Small Bodies Versus the Planets......Page 281
Exercises and Problems......Page 287
Extraordinary Claims: The Death of the Dinosaurs Was Catastrophic, Not Gradual......Page 283
Learning Goals......Page 290
10.1. Detecting Planets Around Other Stars......Page 291
10.2. The Nature of Planets Around Other Stars......Page 295
10.3. The Formation of Other Planetary Systems......Page 304
Exercises and Problems......Page 309
Cosmic Context: Figure 10.6 Detecting Extrasolar Planets......Page 297
Cosmic Calculations 10.1: Finding Sizes of Extrasolar Planets......Page 300
Cosmic Context: Part III At a Glance: Learning from Other Worlds......Page 311
Learning Goals......Page 313
11.1. A Closer Look at the Sun......Page 314
11.2. Nuclear Fusion in the Sun......Page 318
11.3. The Sun–Earth Connection......Page 323
Exercises and Problems......Page 331
Common Misconceptions: The Sun Is Not on Fire......Page 317
Cosmic Calculations 11.1: The Ideal Gas Law......Page 319
Learning Goals......Page 334
12.1. Properties of Stars......Page 335
12.2. Patterns Among Stars......Page 343
12.3. Star Clusters......Page 351
Exercises and Problems......Page 355
Cosmic Calculations 12.1: The Inverse Square Law for Light......Page 337
Common Misconceptions: Photos of Stars......Page 339
Cosmic Calculations 12.2: Radius of a Star......Page 344
Cosmic Context: Figure 12.10 Reading an H-R Diagram......Page 345
Learning Goals......Page 358
13.1. Star Birth......Page 359
13.2. Life as a Low-Mass Star......Page 365
13.3. Life as a High-Mass Star......Page 372
13.4. Stars in Close Binaries......Page 378
Exercises and Problems......Page 383
Cosmic Calculations 13.1: Conditions for Star Birth......Page 361
Special Topic: How Long Is 5 Billion Years?......Page 371
Cosmic Context: Figure 13.23 Summary of Stellar Lives......Page 379
Learning Goals......Page 386
14.1. White Dwarfs......Page 387
14.2. Neutron Stars......Page 392
14.3. Black Holes: Gravity’s Ultimate Victory......Page 396
14.4. Extreme Events......Page 402
Exercises and Problems......Page 406
Special Topic: Relativity and the Cosmic Speed Limit......Page 389
Special Topic: General Relativity and Curvature of Spacetime......Page 398
Cosmic Calculations 14.1: The Schwarzschild Radius......Page 399
Common Misconceptions: Black Holes Don’t Suck......Page 400
Extraordinary Claims: Neutron Stars and Black Holes Are Real......Page 401
Cosmic Context: Part IV At a Glance : Balancing Pressure and Gravity......Page 409
Learning Goals......Page 411
15.1. The Milky Way Revealed......Page 412
Cosmic Calculations 15.1: The Orbital Velocity Formula......Page 416
15.3. The History of the Milky Way......Page 426
15.4. The Galactic Center......Page 428
Exercises and Problems......Page 434
Special Topic: How Did We Learn the Structure of the Milky Way?......Page 413
Special Topic: How Do We Determine Stellar Orbits?......Page 415
Common Misconceptions: The Sound of Space......Page 420
Common Misconceptions: What Is a Nebula?......Page 424
Cosmic Context: Figure 15.20 The Galactic Center......Page 429
Learning Goals......Page 436
16.1. Islands of Stars......Page 437
16.2. Distances of Galaxies......Page 442
Common Misconceptions: Beyond the Horizon......Page 451
16.4. The Role of Supermassive Black Holes......Page 457
Exercises and Problems......Page 464
Cosmic Calculations 16.1: Standard Candles......Page 443
Special Topic: Who Discovered the Expanding Universe?......Page 446
Cosmic Calculations 16.2: Hubble’s Law......Page 447
Common Misconceptions: What Is the Universe Expanding Into?......Page 449
Learning Goals......Page 467
17.1. The Big Bang Theory......Page 468
17.2. Evidence for the Big Bang......Page 477
17.3. The Big Bang and Inflation......Page 481
17.4. Observing the Big Bang for Yourself......Page 484
Exercises and Problems......Page 488
Cosmic Context: Figure 17.6 The Early Universe......Page 475
Cosmic Calculations 17.1: Temperature of Background Radiation......Page 479
Extraordinary Claims: The Universe Doesn’t Change with Time......Page 480
Learning Goals......Page 491
18.1. Unseen Influences in the Cosmos......Page 492
18.2. Evidence for Dark Matter......Page 493
18.3. Structure Formation......Page 502
18.4. Dark Energy and the Fate of the Universe......Page 505
Exercises and Problems......Page 516
Cosmic Calculations 18.1: Mass-to-Light Ratio......Page 496
Extraordinary Claims: Most of the Universe’s Matter Is Dark......Page 497
Special Topic: Einstein’s Greatest Blunder......Page 509
Cosmic Context: Figure 18.18 Dark Matter and Dark Energy......Page 511
Cosmic Context: Part V At a Glance : Galaxy Evolution......Page 519
Learning Goals......Page 521
19.1. Life on Earth......Page 522
19.2. Life in the Solar System......Page 532
19.3. Life Around Other Stars......Page 536
19.4. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence......Page 542
19.5. Interstellar Travel and Its Implications for Civilization......Page 548
Exercises and Problems......Page 554
Special Topic: What Is Life?......Page 527
Extraordinary Claims: Aliens Are Visiting Earth in UFOs......Page 547
Cosmic Context: Part VI At a Glance: A Universe of Life?......Page 557
A. Useful Numbers......Page 559
B. Useful Formulas......Page 560
C. A Few Mathematical Skills......Page 561
D. The Periodic Table of the Elements......Page 566
E. Planetary Data......Page 567
F. Stellar Data......Page 570
G. Galaxy Data......Page 572
H. The 88 Constellations......Page 575
I. Star Charts......Page 577
J. Key to Icons on Figures......Page 582
Glossary......Page 583
Credits......Page 597
Index......Page 599
Space Insert......Page 610
Time Insert......Page 611