Our Universe
An Astronomer’s Guide
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- £21.99
Publisher Description
A BBC Sky at Night Best Astronomy and Space Book of the Year
“[A] luminous guide to the cosmos…Jo Dunkley swoops from Earth to the observable limits, then explores stellar life cycles, dark matter, cosmic evolution and the soup-to-nuts history of the Universe.”
—Nature
“A grand tour of space and time, from our nearest planetary neighbors to the edge of the observable Universe…If you feel like refreshing your background knowledge…this little gem certainly won’t disappoint.”
—Govert Schilling, BBC Sky at Night
Most of us have heard of black holes and supernovas, galaxies and the Big Bang. But few understand more than the bare facts about the universe we call home. What is really out there? How did it all begin? Where are we going?
Jo Dunkley begins in Earth’s neighborhood, explaining the nature of the Solar System, the stars in our night sky, and the Milky Way. She traces the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang fourteen billion years ago, past the birth of the Sun and our planets, to today and beyond. She then explains cutting-edge debates about such perplexing phenomena as the accelerating expansion of the universe and the possibility that our universe is only one of many. Our Universe conveys with authority and grace the thrill of scientific discovery and a contagious enthusiasm for the endless wonders of space-time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Science journalist Dunkley offers a fascinating, accessible introduction to the universe, covering topics ranging from the Big Bang and the "cosmic dawn" of the first stars to the ongoing search for exoplanets and for dark matter and energy. Dunkley begins close to home, with the Earth and Moon, before moving outward from the solar system to the Milky Way, to the edge of the known universe. Along the way, she explains how stars fuse atoms to create energy, and how white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes form. The topic of black holes introduces a discussion of how scientists can search for and find things humans cannot see, by observing how their gravity affects the light around them. Similarly, a pr cis on Einstein's theory of general relativity leads into how the universe began and evolved into an ever-expanding, varied space, and not simply a "monotonously regular sea of atoms and dark matter." In a cosmos-spanning work that also offers a tantalizing glimpse of the possibility of realities beyond this one, Dunkley gives readers a commanding view onto the universe and the wonders to be found in it.
