Astronomy

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?