The universe is big. Really big. And it gets bigger every day. In Cosmological Enigmas, Mark Kidger weaves together history, science, and science fiction to consider questions about the bigness of space and the strange objects that lie trembling at the edge of infinity. What are quasars, blazars, and gamma-ray bursters? Could we ever travel to the stars? Can we really expect aliens to contact us? From the profound (what evidence do we have to support the big bang theory?) to the bizarre (can there be more than one universe and, if so, how many dimensions does it possess?) to the everyday-yet-profound (why is the sky dark at night?), Kidger explains not only what we know but how we came to know it. Reflecting on how stars shine and what may lie beyond the edge of the universe, Kidger takes us on the ultimate cosmic journey. (October 2008)
Author(s): Mark Kidger
Edition: 1
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 272
Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgments......Page 10
Introduction......Page 14
CHAPTER 1 How Are Stars Born and How Do They Die?......Page 18
CHAPTER 2 How Do We Know That Black Holes Exist?......Page 37
CHAPTER 3 Who Is the Strangest in the Cosmic Zoo?......Page 52
CHAPTER 4 How Far Is It to the Stars and Will We Ever Be Able to Travel to Them?......Page 74
CHAPTER 5 How Old Is the Universe?......Page 93
CHAPTER 6 Is Anybody There?......Page 125
CHAPTER 7 How Will the Universe End?......Page 162
CHAPTER 8 Why Is the Sky Dark at Night?......Page 181
CHAPTER 9 How Do We Know There Was a Big Bang?......Page 199
CHAPTER 10 What Is There Outside the Universe?......Page 219
Notes......Page 238
B......Page 262
D......Page 263
H......Page 264
M......Page 265
P......Page 266
S......Page 267
W......Page 268
Z......Page 269
Color galleries......Page 98
