Galaxy
Mapping the Cosmos
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- $25.99
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- $25.99
Publisher Description
Each night, we are able to gaze up at the night sky and look at the thousands of stars that stretch to the end of our individual horizons. But the stars we see are only those that make up our own Milky Way galaxy—but one of hundreds of billions in the whole of the universe, each separated by inconceivably huge tracts of empty space. In this book, astronomer James Geach tells the rich stories of both the evolution of galaxies and our ability to observe them, offering a fascinating history of how we’ve come to realize humanity’s tiny place in the vast universe.
Taking us on a compelling tour of the state-of-the-art science involved in mapping the infinite, Geach offers a first-hand account of both the science itself and how it is done, describing what we currently know as well as that which we still do not. He goes back one hundred years to when scientists first proved the existence of other galaxies, tracking our continued improvement in the ability to collect and interpret the light that stars in faraway galaxies have emitted through space and time. He discusses examples of this rapidly accelerating research, from the initial discovery that the faint “spiral nebulae” were actually separate star systems located far beyond the Milky Way to the latest observations of the nature of galaxies and how they have evolved. He also delves into the theoretical framework and simulations that describe our current “world model” of the universe.
With one hundred superb color illustrations, Galaxy is an illuminating guide to the choreography of the cosmos and how we came to know our place within it that will appeal to any stargazer who has wondered what was beyond their sight.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Astrophysicist Geach goes an order of magnitude further than the usual popular astronomy title those full of breathtaking images, but little in the way of context by giving readers the fascinating stories revealed by those images: how galaxies are created, how they evolve, and what they tell us about our universe. The sheer variety is stunning: "grand design" spirals like our Milky Way; barred spirals; irregular and amorphous galaxies with no discernible structure; dynamic interacting and colliding galaxies where new stars form like popcorn; and quasars, ancient, distant galaxies whose central black holes spew copious amounts of x-ray, ultraviolet, and visible radiation. Living in the Milky Way gives us an insider's view of a typical spiral galaxy, with its broad disc of stars surrounding a bulge or hub of older stars cloaking a supermassive black hole. Geach explores the technology behind modern big telescopes as well as their instrumentation and techniques that scientists use to study galaxies as they determine what they're made of, how much is unknown dark matter, and how fast they're receding away from us in our expanding universe. Gorgeous color photos, coupled with clear and engaging explanations of the science behind them, make this book a winner on every level.