Astronomy A Beginner's Guide to the Universe

Designed for readers with little or no scientific background, this brief paperback introduction to astronomy features an exceptionally clear writing style, an emphasis on critical thinking and visualization, and a leading-edge technology program-including an accompanying full-featured electronic multimedia version of the book and companion Web site. A dynamic art program includes numerous radio, infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray images and transparent full-color overlays. The copernican revolution; light and matter: the inner workings of the cosmos; telescopes: the tools of astronomy; the solar system: interplanetary matter and the birth of the planets; earth and its moon; the terrestrial planets; the Jovian planets; moon, rings, and pluto; the sun; measuring the stars; the interstellar medium; stellar evolution; neutron stars and black holes; the Milky Way galaxy; normal galaxies; active galaxies and quasars; cosmology: the Big Bang and the fate of the universe; life in the universe: are we alone?