Extreme Cosmos
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- $24.99
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
The universe is all about extremes. Space has a temperature 270°C below freezing. Stars die in catastrophic supernova explosions a billion times brighter than the Sun. A black hole can generate 10 million trillion volts of electricity. And hypergiants are stars 2 billion kilometres across, larger than the orbit of Jupiter. Extreme Cosmos provides a stunning new view of the way the Universe works, seen through the lens of extremes: the fastest, hottest, heaviest, brightest, oldest, densest and even the loudest. This is an astronomy book that not only offers amazing facts and figures but also reveals the remarkable richness of the universe and the incredible physics that modern astronomy has unveiled.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Over the past decade, astronomers announced that there are likely 300 sextillion stars in the observable universe. As internationally recognized astronomer Gaensler cannily observes in this stimulating and brisk tour of the universe, astronomy can aid us in gazing with new appreciation for the universe's power and beauty. He conducts a guided tour of the extremes of a wide range of phenomena, such as temperature, light, sound, electricity/magnetism, and density. For example, the surface temperature of our Sun is about 9,900 degrees Fahrenheit, but the surface temperature of a star at the center of the Red Spider Nebula is more than 50 times hotter than the Sun. Scientists have discovered that the Boomerang Nebula is the coldest object in the universe at -458 degrees Fahrenheit. Gaensler points out that the exoplanet WASP-12b (named for the star it orbits) is such a speedy object that it travels at the breakneck speed of 528,000 miles per hour, compared with Earth's 66,000 mph. Gaensler's entertaining introduction to the pleasures of astronomy establishes that we have managed, through diligent use of astronomy and its tools, to discover how stars are born, live, and die, and how entire galaxies have developed and fit together.
