Popular science author John Gribben traces the history of our increasing knowledge of galaxies in this engrossing Very Short Introduction, from the times before Galileo to the present day studies of our many hundreds of millions of galactic neighbors. Galaxies are intriguing celestial structures in and of themselves, but research into them has also disclosed much of what is known about the Universe today, opening a window into the Big Bang and the Universe’s beginnings. From the numerous sorts of stars that are born inside it to the beginnings of its spectacular spiral structure, Gribben examines our own “Milky Way” Galaxy in great detail. Gribben describes the many fascinating discoveries that have been made about our galaxy and those beyond, including how a supermassive black hole lurks at its center, how powerful forces are released during galaxy collisions, how distant galaxies offer a window on the early Universe, and how the formation of young galaxies sheds needed light on the mysteries of Cold Dark Matter. This is perhaps the fascinating part of the book.
Galaxies: A Very Short Introduction
Galaxies are the building blocks of the Universe: standing like islands in space, each is made up of many hundreds of millions of stars in which the chemical elements are made, around which planets form, and where on at least one of those planets intelligent life has emerged.Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is just one of several hundred million other galaxies that we can now observe through our telescopes. Yet it was only in the 1920s that we realised that there is more to the Universe than the Milky Way, and that there were in fact other 'islands' out there. In many ways, modern astronomy began with this discovery, and the story of galaxies is therefore the story of modern astronomy. Since then, many exciting discoveries have been made about our own galaxy and
about those beyond: how a supermassive black hole lurks at the centre of every galaxy, for example, how enormous forces are released when galaxies collide, how distant galaxies provide a window on the early Universe, and what the formation of young galaxies can tell us about the mysteries of Cold Dark
Matter.In this Very Short Introduction, renowned science writer John Gribbin describes the extraordinary things that astronomers are learning about galaxies, and explains how this can shed light on the origins and structure of the Universe.
- Tags: Oxford, Physics, Science, Very Short Introduction
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