Contents
- Preface
1Science and the Universe: A Brief Tour
2Observing the Sky: The Birth of Astronomy
7Other Worlds: An Introduction to the Solar System
13Comets and Asteroids: Debris of the Solar System
14Cosmic Samples and the Origin of the Solar System
18The Stars: A Celestial Census
20Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space
21The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System
27Active Galaxies, Quasars, and Supermassive Black Holes
- AHow to Study for an Introductory Astronomy Class
- BAstronomy Websites, Images, and Apps
- CScientific Notation
- DUnits Used in Science
- ESome Useful Constants for Astronomy
- FPhysical and Orbital Data for the Planets
- GSelected Moons of the Planets
- HFuture Total Eclipses
- IThe Nearest Stars, Brown Dwarfs, and White Dwarfs
- JThe Brightest Twenty Stars
- KThe Chemical Elements
- LThe Constellations
- MStar Chart and Sky Event Resources
- Index
Review Questions
Review Questions
How are distant (young) galaxies different from the galaxies that we see in the universe today?
What is the evidence that star formation began when the universe was only a few hundred million years old?
Describe the evolution of an elliptical galaxy. How does the evolution of a spiral galaxy differ from that of an elliptical?
Explain what we mean when we call the universe homogeneous and isotropic. Would you say that the distribution of elephants on Earth is homogeneous and isotropic? Why?
Describe the organization of galaxies into groupings, from the Local Group to superclusters.
What is the evidence that a large fraction of the matter in the universe is invisible?
When astronomers make maps of the structure of the universe on the largest scales, how do they find the superclusters of galaxies to be arranged?
How does the presence of an active galactic nucleus in a starburst galaxy affect the starburst process?