Secrets of the universe
Subtitle: how we discovered the cosmos
By: Paul Murdin.
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press; University of Chicago Press; University Of Chicago Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Chicago; London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 341
ISBN-13: 9780226551432
Subjects: Cosmology -- History; Astronomy -- History
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Discoveries before the telescope; title: The seven planets; title: Wandering stars; title: Stars and constellations; title: Our human link with the ice age; title: The milky way; title: Path of the gods, souls and pilgrims; title: The shape of the Earth; title: Our planet, a flattened sphere; title: The southern constellations; title: Hidden stars revealed by the tilting earth; title: The sun; title: At the centre of the solar system; title: Discoveries in the solar system; title: Comets; title: Disasters, sun-grazers and the 'lady's comet'; title: The satellites of Jupiter; title: Galileo shatters the crystal spheres; title: The phases of Venus; title: Revealing the shape of the Copernican system; title: Uranus; title: William Herschel discovers the first new planet; title: Neptune; title: The planet discovered by the pen; title: Asteroids; title: Remnants of the early solar system; title: Pluto; title: A planet deliberately sought, but not a planet; title: And discovered by accident; title: The Kuiper belt; title: The frontier of the solar system; title: Meteors and meteorites; title: The sky is falling!; title: Meteor showers; title: In the middle of the night, stars fell like rain; title: The Earth's magnetosphere; title: Our defence against the sun; title: Comets; title: Sandbanks or dirty snowballs?; title: The Earth's climate, the seasons and the weather; title: Astronomical cycles; title: Asteroid impacts on the Earth; title: The true origin of craters on Earth; title: Origin of the moon; title: Neither daughter nor sister of the Earth; title: Mercury; title: The late heavy bombardment; title: The greenhouse effect; title: Venus and the Earth; title: Mars; title: The dying planet; title: Water on Mars and Europa; title: Evidence for extraterrestrial life?; title: Volcanoes on Io; title: Linda Morabito makes a chance discovery; title: Saturn and the gas giant planets; title: Lords of the rings; title: Discoveries of the dynamic universe; title: Helium; title: The cosmic element; title: Gravitation; title: Determinism and chaos; title: Relativity; title: The nature of space and time; title: Radio waves; title: A new window on the universe; title: X-rays from space; title: The energetic universe; title: Variable stars; title: Discovery of star systems; title: Sirius B and white dwarfs; title: Discovery of stellar cinders; title: Neutron stars and pulsars; title: Lighthouse stars; title: Black holes; title: A solution looking for a problem; title: Discoveries of our galaxy and its stars; title: Distances of the stars; title: The radiance of a star that was shining years ago; title: The discovery of our galaxy; title: Stars in an island universe; title: Interstellar nebulae; title: Stars, molecules, dust and gas; title: Star clusters; title: Nebulae resolved; title: Supernovae; title: Origins of the stardust from which we are made; title: Supernova 1987a; title: The whisper and the vision; title: Cepheid variable stars; title: Stars' heartbeats that measure the universe; title: Exoplanets; title: Other worlds beyond ours; title: The energy of the sun and stars; title: Discovery of nuclear fusion; title: The origin of the elements; title: Making star stuff; title: Inside the sun; title: Whispers and rings; title: The crab nebula; title: A supernova remnant; title: Planetary nebulae; title: Looking into secret places; title: The origin of the stars and the planets; title: The solar nebula and proplyds; title: Interstellar dust; title: Curtains of diamonds and graphite; title: Discoveries of the universe and its galaxies; title: Hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe; title: Galaxies; title: Ellipticals, spirals and mergers; title: Magellanic clouds; title: Our neighbour galaxies; title: Quasars; title: Active galaxies; title: Supermassive black holes; title: Monsters at the centres of galaxies; title: Black hole in our galaxy; title: A dormant monster; title: Gamma-ray bursters; title: The biggest bangs since the big bang; title: Evolving universe; title: The past, the present and the future; title: The cosmic microwave background; title: The after-glow of the big bang; title: Darkness at night; title: The missing galaxies; title: Future discoveries; title: Dark matter; title: A dark secret to uncover : dark energy; title: On the threshold of a profound discovery; title: Gravitational waves; title: Whispers of neutron stars and the big bang; title: Life in the universe; title: Are we alone?