Download or read book Finding Our Place in the Universe written by Helene Courtois and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-05-28 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How a team of researchers, led by the author, discovered our home galaxy's location in the universe. You are here: on Earth, which is part of the solar system, which is in the Milky Way galaxy, which itself is within the extragalactic supercluster Laniakea. And how can we pinpoint our location so precisely? For twenty years, astrophysicist Hélène Courtois surfed the cosmos with international teams of researchers, working to map our local universe. In this book, Courtois describes this quest and the discovery of our home supercluster. Courtois explains that Laniakea (which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian) is the largest galaxy structure known to which we belong; it is huge, almost too large to comprehend—about five hundred million light-years in diameter. It contains about 100,000 large galaxies like our own, and a million smaller ones. Writing accessibly for nonspecialists, Courtois describes the visualization and analysis that allowed her team to map such large structures of the universe. She highlights the work of individual researchers, including portraits of several exceptional women astrophysicists—presenting another side of astronomy. Key ideas are highlighted in text insets; illustrations accompany the main text. The French edition of this book was named the Best Astronomy Book of 2017 by the astronomy magazine Ciel et espace. For this MIT Press English-language edition, Courtois has added descriptions of discoveries made after Laniakea: the cosmic velocity web and the Dipole and Cold Spot repellers. An engaging account of one of the most important discoveries in astrophysics in recent years, her story is a tribute to teamwork and international collaboration.
Download or read book The Privileged Planet written by Guillermo Gonzalez and published by Regnery Gateway. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Earth. The Final Frontier Contrary to popular belief, Earth is not an insignificant blip on the universe’s radar. Our world proves anything but average in Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards’ The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery. But what exactly does Earth bring to the table? How does it prove its worth among numerous planets and constellations in the vastness of the Milky Way? In The Privileged Planet, you’ll learn about the world’s life-sustaining capabilities, water and its miraculous makeup, protection by the planetary giants, and how our planet came into existence in the first place.
Download or read book Your Place in the Universe written by Paul M. Sutter and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An astrophysicist presents an in-depth yet accessible tour of the universe for lay readers, while conveying the excitement of astronomy.How is a galaxy billions of lightyears away connected to us? Is our home nothing more than a tiny speck of blue in an ocean of night? In this exciting tour of a universe far larger than we can imagine, cosmologist Paul M. Sutter emphasizes how amazing it is that we are part of such a huge, complex, and mysterious place. Through metaphors and uncomplicated language, Sutter breathes life into the science of astrophysics, unveiling how particles, forces, and fields interplay to create the greatest of cosmic dramas. Touched with the author's characteristic breezy, conversational style--which has made him a breakout hit on venues such as The Weather Channel, the Science Channel, and his own popular Ask a Spaceman! podcast--he conveys the fun and wonder of delving deeply into the physical processes of the natural universe. He weaves together the past and future histories of our universe with grounded descriptions of essential modern-day physics as well as speculations based on the latest research in cosmology. Topics include our place in the Milky Way galaxy; the cosmic web--a vast web-like pattern in which galaxies are arranged; the origins of our universe in the big bang; the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy; how science has dramatically changed our relationship to the cosmos; conjectures about the future of reality as we know it; and more.For anyone who has ever stared at the starry night sky and wondered how we humans on Earth fit into the big picture, this book is an essential roadmap.
Download or read book Our Place in the Universe written by Norman K. Glendenning and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2007 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our Place in the Universe tells the story of our world, formation of the first galaxies and stars formed from great clouds containing the primordial elements made in the first few minutes; birth of stars, their lives and deaths in fiery supernova explosions; formation of the solar system, its planets and many moons; life on Earth, its needs and vicissitudes on land and in the seas; finally exoplanets, planets that surround distant stars. Interspersed in the text are short pieces on some of those who revealed these wonders to us.It is written in a very authoritative and readable form and contains more than 100 color prints of the marvelous galaxies, and nebula that have been taken from space-based and land-based telescopes carried by NASA missions, the European Space Agency, the European Southern Laboratory in Chile and many other sources.
Download or read book Universal written by Brian Cox and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2017-03-28 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An awe-inspiring, unforgettable journey of scientific exploration from Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw, the international bestselling authors of Why Does E=MC2? and The Quantum Universe, with 55 black-&-white and 45 full-color pages featuring photographs, diagrams, maps, tables, and graphs. We dare to imagine a time before the Big Bang, when the entire universe was compressed into a space smaller than an atom. And now, as Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw show, we can do more than imagine: we can understand. Universal takes us on an epic journey of scientific exploration. It reveals how we can all come to grips with some of the most fundamental questions about our Earth, Sun, and solar system--and the star-filled galaxies beyond. How big is our solar system? How quickly is space expanding? How big is the universe? What is it made of? Some of these questions can be answered on the basis of observations you can make in your own backyard. Other answers draw on the astonishing information now being gathered by teams of astronomers operating at the frontiers of the known universe. At the heart of all this lies the scientific method. Science reveals a deeper beauty and connects us to each other, to our world, and to our universe. Science reaches out into the unknown. As Universal demonstrates, if we dare to imagine, we can do the same.
Download or read book Your Ticket to the Universe written by Kimberly K. Arcand and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Easy-to-read guide to the universe. Includes information on the planets, and other astrological entities"--
Download or read book Where Did the Universe Come From And Other Cosmic Questions written by Chris Ferrie and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2021-09-07 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Go on an awe-inspiring journey, unraveling the secrets of our universe from the tiniest particles to the vastness of space In this thought-provoking exploration, physicists Chris Ferrie and Geraint F. Lewis delve into the fundamental questions that have puzzled humanity for centuries. What sparked the birth of the universe? How did matter and energy come into existence? With clarity and precision, Ferrie and Lewis navigate the realms of quantum physics, relativity, and cosmology, providing accessible explanations that engage both novices and enthusiasts. Featuring a harmonious blend of scientific rigor and captivating storytelling, Where Did the Universe Come From? bridges the gap between complex concepts and everyday understanding. Readers will: Explore the origin of the universe and the fundamental forces that govern it. Dive into the mind-boggling realm of quantum mechanics and its implications on the cosmic scale. Uncover the mysteries of black holes, dark matter, and the enigmatic nature of the cosmos. Enjoy an engaging narrative that seamlessly integrates complex scientific concepts with accessible explanations. Whether you're an astrophysics enthusiast, a science student, or simply someone with a profound interest in the wonders of the universe, this comprehensive guide offers a rich tapestry of knowledge about the captivating wonders that surround us all.
Download or read book Life in the Cosmos written by Manasvi Lingam and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-29 with total page 1089 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rigorous and scientific analysis of the myriad possibilities of life beyond our planet. ÒAre we alone in the universe?Ó This tantalizing question has captivated humanity over millennia, but seldom has it been approached rigorously. Today the search for signatures of extraterrestrial life and intelligence has become a rapidly advancing scientific endeavor. Missions to Mars, Europa, and Titan seek evidence of life. Laboratory experiments have made great strides in creating synthetic life, deepening our understanding of conditions that give rise to living entities. And on the horizon are sophisticated telescopes to detect and characterize exoplanets most likely to harbor life. Life in the Cosmos offers a thorough overview of the burgeoning field of astrobiology, including the salient methods and paradigms involved in the search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence. Manasvi Lingam and Abraham Loeb tackle three areas of interest in hunting for life Òout thereÓ: first, the pathways by which life originates and evolves; second, planetary and stellar factors that affect the habitability of worlds, with an eye on the biomarkers that may reveal the presence of microbial life; and finally, the detection of technological signals that could be indicative of intelligence. Drawing on empirical data from observations and experiments, as well as the latest theoretical and computational developments, the authors make a compelling scientific case for the search for life beyond what we can currently see. Meticulous and comprehensive, Life in the Cosmos is a master class from top researchers in astrobiology, suggesting that the answer to our age-old question is closer than ever before.
Download or read book The Living Cosmos written by Chris Impey and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-06-02 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Considering the development of life on Earth, the existence of life in extreme environments and the potential for life elsewhere in the Universe, this book gives a fascinating insight into our place in the Universe. Chris Impey leads the reader through the history, from the Copernican revolution to the emergence of the field of astrobiology – the study of life in the cosmos. He examines how life on Earth began, exploring its incredible variety and the extreme environments in which it can survive. Finally, Impey turns his attention to our Solar System and the planets beyond, discussing whether there may be life elsewhere in the Universe. Written in non-technical language, this book is ideal for anyone wanting to know more about astrobiology and how it is changing our views of life and the Universe. An accompanying website available at www.cambridge.org/9780521173841 features podcasts, articles and news stories on astrobiology.
Download or read book See You in the Cosmos written by Jack Cheng and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “I haven't read anything that has moved me this much since Wonder.” —Jennifer Niven, author of All the Bright Places A space-obsessed boy and his dog, Carl Sagan, take a journey toward family, love, hope, and awe in this funny and moving novel for fans of Counting by 7s, Walk Two Moons, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. 11-year-old Alex Petroski loves space and rockets, his mom, his brother, and his dog Carl Sagan—named for his hero, the real-life astronomer. All he wants is to launch his golden iPod into space the way Carl Sagan (the man, not the dog) launched his Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. From Colorado to New Mexico, Las Vegas to L.A., Alex records a journey on his iPod to show other lifeforms what life on earth, his earth, is like. But his destination keeps changing. And the funny, lost, remarkable people he meets along the way can only partially prepare him for the secrets he’ll uncover—from the truth about his long-dead dad to the fact that, for a kid with a troubled mom and a mostly not-around brother, he has way more family than he ever knew. Jack Cheng’s debut is full of joy, optimism, determination, and unbelievable heart. To read the first page is to fall in love with Alex and his view of our big, beautiful, complicated world. To read the last is to know he and his story will stay with you a long, long time. "Stellar." —Entertainment Weekly “Life-embracing.” —The Wall Street Journal "Works beautifully." —The New York Times Book Review “Irresistible.” —The Chicago Tribune “The best I've read in a long, long time.” —Holly Goldberg Sloan, author of Counting by 7s “Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.” —Kirkus, starred review “A propulsive stream-of-conscious dive.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “A gift—a miracle.” —Paul Griffin, author When Friendship Followed Me Home “Exuberant.” —Booklist "Full of the real kind of magic." —Ally Condie, author of Matched "Absorbing, irresistible." —Common Sense Media “Incredible.” —BookRiot "Full of innocence and unwavering optimism." —SLC "Inspiring." —Time for Kids “Powerfully affirms our human capacity for grace and love and understanding.” —Gary D. Schmidt, author of Okay for Now
Download or read book One Universe written by Charles Tsun-Chu Liu and published by Joseph Henry Press. This book was released on 1999-12-20 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new window opens onto the cosmos... Almost every day we are challenged by new information from the outermost reaches of space. Using straightforward language, One Universe explores the physical principles that govern the workings of our own world so that we can appreciate how they operate in the cosmos around us. Bands of color in a sunlit crystal and the spectrum of starlight in giant telescopes, the arc of a hard-hit baseball and the orbit of the moon, traffic patterns on a freeway and the spiral arms in a galaxy full of stars--they're all tied together in grand and simple ways. We can understand the vast cosmos in which we live by exploring three basic concepts: motion, matter, and energy. With these as a starting point, One Universe shows how the physical principles that operate in our kitchens and backyards are actually down-to-Earth versions of cosmic processes. The book then takes us to the limits of our knowledge, asking the ultimate questions about the origins and existence of life as we know it and where the universe came from--and where it is going. Glorious photographs--many seen for the first time in these pages--and original illustrations expand and enrich our understanding. Evocative and clearly written, One Universe explains complex ideas in ways that every reader can grasp and enjoy. This book captures the grandeur of the heavens while making us feel at home in the cosmos. Above all, it helps us realize that galaxies, stars, planets, and we ourselves all belong to One Universe.
Download or read book Child of the Universe written by Ray Jayawardhana and published by Make Me a World. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perfect for fans of The Wonderful Things You Will Be and That's Me Loving You, this picture book by a renowned astrophysicist is a lyrical meditation on the preciousness of one child and the vastness of the universe. Just like the sun gives shine to the moon, you light up the world beyond this room . . . You are grand and marvelous, strong and mysterious. The history of the world is in your fingertips. A lyrical meditation on the preciousness of one child and the vastness of the universe, this gorgeously illustrated picture book shares the immensity of a parent's love along with the message that we are all connected to the broader cosmos in important and intimate ways. A perfect bedtime read-aloud, Child of the Universe is a book to cherish forever. The author is an astrophysicist who has been fascinated by the universe since he was a child. As a parent, he has developed a new appreciation for the deep connections between billions of years of cosmic evolution and this one tiny human.
Download or read book Our Place in the Cosmos written by Sir Fred Hoyle and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The assumption that life originated on Earth like some virus like form, And simply evolved by natural selection into the diversity of forms known to have existed, is as unenlightened and Earth centred as ancient astrology. It is exactly this stringent focus on the Earth as centre of the Universe that is endangering the entire planet. From this controversial standpoint, the famous and respected partnership of Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe examines how it is overwhelmingly, likely that life originated outside the solar system. Using virological and epidemiological evidence to support their theory, The authors also assert that life forms from space are constantly arriving to mingle with our own biospher
Download or read book The View From the Center of the Universe written by Joel R. Primack and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2007-08-07 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this strikingly original book, a world-renowned cosmologist and an innovative writer of the history and philosophy of science uncover an astonishing truth: Humans actually are central to the universe. What does this mean for our culture and our personal lives? The answer is revolutionary: a science-based cosmology that allows us to understand the universe as a whole and our extraordinary place in it.
Download or read book Probable Impossibilities written by Alan Lightman and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2022-04-19 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams tackles "big questions like the origin of the universe and the nature of consciousness ... in an entertaining and easily digestible way” (Wall Street Journal) with a collection of meditative essays on the possibilities—and impossibilities—of nothingness and infinity, and how our place in the cosmos falls somewhere in between. Can space be divided into smaller and smaller units, ad infinitum? Does space extend to larger and larger regions, on and on to infinity? Is consciousness reducible to the material brain and its neurons? What was the origin of life, and can biologists create life from scratch in the lab? Physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, whom The Washington Post has called “the poet laureate of science writers,” explores these questions and more—from the anatomy of a smile to the capriciousness of memory to the specialness of life in the universe to what came before the Big Bang. Probable Impossibilities is a deeply engaged consideration of what we know of the universe, of life and the mind, and of things vastly larger and smaller than ourselves.
Download or read book Mapping the Heavens written by Priyamvada Natarajan and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-28 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A theoretical astrophysicist explores the ideas that transformed our knowledge of the universe over the past century. The cosmos, once understood as a stagnant place, filled with the ordinary, is now a universe that is expanding at an accelerating pace, propelled by dark energy and structured by dark matter. Priyamvada Natarajan, our guide to these ideas, is someone at the forefront of the research—an astrophysicist who literally creates maps of invisible matter in the universe. She not only explains for a wide audience the science behind these essential ideas but also provides an understanding of how radical scientific theories gain acceptance. The formation and growth of black holes, dark matter halos, the accelerating expansion of the universe, the echo of the big bang, the discovery of exoplanets, and the possibility of other universes—these are some of the puzzling cosmological topics of the early twenty-first century. Natarajan discusses why the acceptance of new ideas about the universe and our place in it has never been linear and always contested even within the scientific community. And she affirms that, shifting and incomplete as science always must be, it offers the best path we have toward making sense of our wondrous, mysterious universe. “Part history, part science, all illuminating. If you want to understand the greatest ideas that shaped our current cosmic cartography, read this book.”—Adam G. Riess, Nobel Laureate in Physics, 2011 “A highly readable, insider’s view of recent discoveries in astronomy with unusual attention to the instruments used and the human drama of the scientists.”—Alan Lightman, author of The Accidental Universe and Einstein's Dream
Download or read book Lost in the Cosmos written by Walker Percy and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2011-03-29 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A mock self-help book designed not to help but to provoke . . . to inveigle us into thinking about who we are and how we got into this mess.” (Los Angeles Times Book Review). Filled with quizzes, essays, short stories, and diagrams, Lost in the Cosmos is National Book Award–winning author Walker Percy’s humorous take on a familiar genre—as well as an invitation to serious contemplation of life’s biggest questions. One part parody and two parts philosophy, Lost in the Cosmos is an enlightening guide to the dilemmas of human existence, and an unrivaled spin on self-help manuals by one of modern America’s greatest literary masters.
