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Peter Grego. Universe: The story of the Universe, from earliest times to our continuing discoveries
Contents
1 A big Universe
Splendour of the heavens
Inklings of the infinite
Eternal musings
Cosmic connection
Sunshine and starlight
Stellar energy, cosmic distances
6.5 billion terranauts
Big blue marble
Moon musings
Fellow wanderers
Meet the neighbours
The galactic suburbs
Island Universe
A grand design
Galaxies galore
Zooming around the Universe
Earth
Earth-Moon
Solar System
Oort Cloud
Stellar neighbourhood
Milky Way
Local galactic group
Most of the Universe
2 In cosmic realms
Cosmic notions
Observant ancestors
Moon markings
Celestial purpose
Astrology
Predictive power
Portents of doom
Pseudoscience
Ancient cosmology
Mesopotamian skies
Fertile minds
Lunar calendar
Babylonian astronomy
Ancient Egypt
Flood warning
Gods in the sky
Pyramid scheme
Megaliths and medicine wheels
Hanging stones
Medicine wheels
Ancient China
Skies under scrutiny
Cosmic firecracker
Star signs
Ancient Greece
Cosmic questioning
Earth-centred Universe
Solar hub
Copernican revolution
Copper-nosed enquirer
Understanding the Solar System
Kepler, planetary law-giver
Telescopic revelations
The orbs around us
Reality bites
Our lunar companion
Planetary perceptions
Aerial adventures
Under Paris skies
Newton’s Universe
Celestial mechanics
Planetary perceptions
Golden age of observation
Cook-chilled planet
Cloud-swathed Venus
Quiet Moon
Strange red world
Mars, an abode of life?
Celestial vermin
Police squad
Finding faint fuzzies
Jovian giant
Ringed planet
Expanding Solar System
Birth of the Solar System
Clouded visions
Passing star
Interstellar origins
A bigger picture
Home galaxy
Herschel’s insights
Charting the stars
Aberration of light
Plumbing cosmic depths
Small Galaxy, big Universe
Island Universes
Deep sky diversity
Cosmic yardstick
Hubble’s Universe
Redshifted cosmos
Expanding Universe
The Big Bang theory
Blast from the past
Ripples in the cosmic fabric
3 Third rock
Our cosmic foothold
Planet Earth
Natural beauty
Terra, formed
Planetary foundry
Atmosphere, oceans and life
Jigsaw planet
Get the drift
When continents divide
Plate tectonics in action
Subduction, volcanoes and ’quakes
Mountain building
A chip off the third rock
Whence the Moon?
The Big Whack theory
Bombarded Moon
Big moon
Lunar synchronicity
Stunning phases
One face, two sides
Pockmarked Moon
Sculpted crust
Finding faults
4 Our cosmic backyard
Other worlds than ours
Terrestrial planets
Minor planets
Gas giants
Ice worlds at the fringes
Deep frozen debris
Daytime star
Sunshine
Solar activity
Solar cycle
Mercury
Battered and crumpled
Venus
Shades of Hades
Mars
Martian atmospherics
Mars’ icy poles
The Martian abode
Spuds in orbit
Watery Mars
Martians
Asteroids
Crowded skies
Potential hazards
Jupiter
Giant planet
Failed star?
The Galilean moons
lo
Europa
Ganymede
Callisto
Saturn
Planetary lightweight
Atmospheric activity
Rings
Saturn’s many moons
Titan
Battered icy moons
Uranus
Green giant
Remarkable satellites
Elusive rings
Neptune
Wide blue yonder
Active Triton
Worlds beyond Neptune
Pluto, distant double planet
Kuiper Belt objects
Planet X
Comets
The Oort Cloud
Familiars and fly-by-nights
Heads and tails
Hubble’s planetary perspectives
5 The galactic neighbourhood
Star colours
Giants compared
Spectrum inspection
Spectral types
Star birth
Star development
Turning off Main Street
Puffing into oblivion
Supernovae
Black holes
Multiple stars
Amazing systems
Variable stars
Celestial peek-a-boo
Cepheids
Long-period variables
Irregular variables
Stellar cataclysms
Type I supernovae
Stars in plane sight
Stars in their billions
Twinkling near and far
Stellar neighbours
Stars in the ’hood
Notable locals
Just passing by
Scorching Sirius
Open star clusters
Stellar siblings
Seven sisters
Globular star clusters
Spectacular stellar spheres
Herculean cluster
Giant globulars
Nebulae, dark and bright
Dark clouds
The mane attraction
Hidden core
On reflection
Emission nebulae
Galactic bubbles and froth
6 Far and away
Peering into infinity
Galactic evolution
First stars
Black hearted galaxies
Galaxies of all shapes and sizes
Spiral galaxies
Spiral spin
They’re barred
Elliptical galaxies
When swirls collide
Pulling on the pool
Head-on collision
Local heroes
Magellan’s clouds
The Milky Way’s dwarf satellites
Canis Major – CMa DlrrG
Sagittarius – Sgr DSphG
Ursa Minor – UMi DSphG
Sculptor – Scl DSphG
Draco – Dra DSphG
Sextans – Sex DSphG
Carina – Car DSphG
Ursa Major – UMa DSphG
Fornax – For DSphG
Leo – Leo II DSphG
Leo – Leo I DSphG
The local group
The great Andromeda spiral
Pinwheel in Triangulum
Galactic clusters
Virgo cluster
Superclusters
7 The Universe revealed
Gathering light
Scope for discovery
Amateur astronomy
A spectrum of possibilities
Tuning in to the cosmos
The view from Earth
Visible light
Infrared
Microwave astronomy
Radio astronomy
Little green men
More little green men
The ultraviolet Universe
X-rays and gamma rays
Prospectus Universalis
Glossary
Need to know more?
Societies (in the UK)
Societies (in the USA)
Recommended software
Websites
Further reading
Index
Acknowledgements
Copyright
About the Publisher
