Astronomy

What happens to space and matter near a black hole? Where did the moon come from? How do we know what stars are made of? Are we alone in the universe? In Exploding Stars and Invisible Planets, Fred Watson, an award-winning astronomer, presents the most up-to-date knowledge on hot topics in astronomy and space science, providing a fascinating and entertaining account of the latest research. Watson explains how to find invisible planets around other stars, why dark matter matters, and the future of citizen space travel, all while recounting the seismic shifts in understanding that have taken place during his illustrious career. The book features illuminating discussions of microbes in space; the dividing line between day and night; exploding stars and light echoes; fast radio bursts and signals from space; meteors, meteorites, and space dust; what happened to the Martian ocean; the seas and lakes of Titan; and the birth of the universe.

This book presents an overview of NASAs past operations and provides detailed accounts of some current missions and how they will form the future of space exploration.

'Why'? Why is the world, the Universe the way it is? Is space infinitely large? How small is small? What happens when one continues to divide matter into ever smaller pieces? Indeed, what is matter? Is there anything else besides what can be seen? Pursuing the questions employing the leading notions of physics, one soon finds that the tangible and visible world dissolves -- rather unexpectedly -- into invisible things and domains that are beyond direct perception. A remarkable feature of our Universe is that most of its constituents turn out to be invisible, and this fact is brought out with great force by this book.Exploring the Invisible Universe covers the gamut of topics in advanced modern physics and provides extensive and well substantiated answers to these questions and many more. Discussed in a non-technical, yet also non-trivial manner, are topics dominated by invisible things -- such as Black Holes and Superstrings as well as Fields, Gravitation, the Standard Model, Cosmology, Relativity, the Origin of Elements, Stars and Planetary Evolution, and more. Just giving the answer, as so many books do, is really not telling anything at all. To truly answer the 'why' questions of nature, one needs to follow the chain of reasoning that scientists have used to come to the conclusions they have. This book does not shy away from difficult-to-explain topics by reducing them to one-line answers and power phrases suitable for a popular talk show. The explanations are rigorous and straight to the point. This book is rarely mathematical without being afraid, however, to use elementary mathematics when called for. In order to achieve this, a large number of detailed figures, specially developed for this book and found nowhere else, convey insights that otherwise might either be inaccessible or need lengthy and difficult-to-follow explanations.After Exploring the Invisible Universe, a reader will have a deeper insight into our current understanding of the foundations of Nature and be able to answer all the questions above and then some. To understand Nature and the cutting edge ideas of contemporary physics, this is the book to have.

Rockets and Revolution offers a multifaceted study of the race toward space in the first half of the twentieth century, examining how the Russian, European, and American pioneers competed against one another in the early years to acquire the fundamentals of rocket science, engineer simple rockets, and ultimately prepare the path for human spaceflight. Between 1903 and 1953, Russia matured in radical and dramatic ways as the tensions and expectations of the Russian revolution drew it both westward and spaceward. European and American industrial capacities became the models to imitate and to surpass. The burden was always on Soviet Russia to catch up--enough to achieve a number of remarkable "firsts" in these years, from the first national rocket society to the first comprehensive surveys of spaceflight. Russia rose to the challenges of its Western rivals time and again, transcending the arenas of science and technology and adapting rocket science to popular culture, science fiction, political ideology, and military programs. While that race seemed well on its way to achieving the goal of space travel and exploring life on other planets, during the second half of the twentieth century these scientific advances turned back on humankind with the development of the intercontinental ballistic missile and the coming of the Cold War. Purchase the audio edition.

In 2018, Lisa Harvey-Smith was appointed as the inaugural Australian Women in STEM Ambassador by the Australian Federal Government. Why is the Milky Way blue? Why isn't a black hole dark? How many stars can you see with your naked eye?* How much hotter are blue stars than red ones?** Humans are the only known astronomers in the universe. When we look up at the night sky, we are linked to our ancestors. Away from city lights, we can see what generations of people before us have wondered at and weaved stories around. But all that will change. The Andromeda Galaxy is rushing towards us at 400,000 kilometres an hour. When Galaxies Collide will guide you to look at the night sky afresh. It peers 5.86 billion years into the future to consider the fate of Earth and its inhabitants. Will the solution be to live in space without a planet to call home? Will one of the other 100 billion planets spawn life? Learn how to watch this space. * 9,000, but only half of that from any given point on Earth. ** 38,000 degrees vs 3,000.

What is life and where can it exist? What searches are being made to identify conditions for life on other worlds? If extraterrestrial inhabited worlds are found, how can we explore them? In this book, two leading astrophysicists provide an engaging account of where we stand in our quest for habitable environments, in the Solar System and beyond. Starting from basic concepts, the narrative builds scientifically, including more in-depth material as boxed additions to the main text. The authors recount fascinating recent discoveries from space missions and observations using ground-based telescopes, of possible life-related artefacts in Martian meteorites, extrasolar planets, and subsurface oceans on Europa, Titan and Enceladus. They also provide a forward look to future missions. This is an exciting, informative read for anyone interested in the search for habitable and inhabited planets, and an excellent primer for students in astrobiology, habitability, planetary science and astronomy.