Your cosmic context
Subtitle: an introduction to modern cosmology
By: Todd Duncan, Craig Tyler.
Contributors: Tyler, Craig.
Publisher: Pearson Addison Wesley
Published: 2009
Place of publication: San Francisco
Language: eng
Format: Trade Paperback
Number of pages: 466
ISBN-13: 9780132400107
Subjects: Cosmology
Description: "Provides a cumulative guide to the general lessons of modern scientific cosmology, as well as the historical background that connects the nature of the universe with the reader's place in it"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 446-449) and index.
Table of contents: title: Starting points.  What do you wonder about? -- Science: a way to answer questions -- What difference does this knowledge make? -- The sky we see. Looking up -- First impressions -- Enhancing our vision -- Light waves -- Putting your knowledge of light to use -- The universe we discover through heat and light. Starlight in a particle world-- Standard candles -- The scale of the universe -- The universe we discover through motion and gravity. Enter gravity -- Stars and galaxies in motion -- Dark matter -- Clues about the cosmos. Redshifts of galaxies -- The distribution of galaxies -- Microwaves from every direction -- Common ingredients in the universe -- Comparing astronomical ages -- Olbers's paradox -- The fabric of spacetime. The curved-space concept -- Hints of a deeper gravity theory -- General relativity -- Testing general relativity with photons and gravitons -- The black hole and the event horizon -- Quasars -- An expanding universe. Spacetime and the cosmological horizon -- Cosmic expansion -- Recession and redshift -- Dark energy -- Consequences of the expansion -- Photons and electrons. Blackbody radiation -- Photons and bound electrons -- Photons and free electrons -- The cosmic microwave background -- Polarization -- The nuclear realm. Energy -- Nuclear interactions -- Thermonuclear fusion in stars -- Heavy elements and stellar genetics -- Exotic particles -- Elemental abundances -- The big bang theory. Overview of the theory -- Expansion, not explosion -- How the big bang explains our observations -- Evaluating the big bang -- History, density, and destiny. Density of the universe -- History of the universe -- Destiny of the universe -- The story of structure. Primordial harmonics -- Precision cosmology -- Cold halos, galaxies, and the dark universe -- Inflation theory -- Supplemental topic: quantum fluctuations in cosmology -- The emergence of complex life. Supplemental section: life on earth -- Life on other worlds? -- Extrasolar planets -- Intelligence on other worlds? -- What does it mean to you? What have you learned? -- Anthropic thoughts -- This is your history -- So what? finding your cosmic context.