Astronomy Physics

Physicist Harry Cliff ventures out in search of the ultimate apple pie recipe, tracing the ingredients of our universe through the hearts of dying stars and back in time to a tiny fraction of a second after our universe began. Along the way, he confronts some really big questions: what is matter really made of? How does the stuff around us escape annihilation in the fearsome heat of the Big Bang? And will we ever be able to understand the very first moments of our universe?

Based on real questions from children, expert author Dr. Matt Bothwell has created the Supervillain Academy to teach astrophysics to middle graders.

Written by Oxford astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst and composed of 10 captivating, simple essays, it guides you swiftly through the galaxies, explaining the mysteries of black holes, dark matter and what existed before the big bang, presenting the evidence as to whether we really are alone, illuminating what we still don't know and much more besides. If you have big questions about space, this book will provide you with the answers in an engaging and succinct way.

As a follow-up to the seminal work, The Overview Effect, Frank White explores life's destiny in the universe and a compelling new hypothesis.

Here are five accessible essays by those who walk the fine line between science and science fiction, moving ever further out in discovering the patterns of nature, aimed at listeners who share their fascination with the deepest mysteries of the universe. Includes essays by Stephen Hawking, Timothy Ferris, Alan Lightman, and more.

This audiobook introduces younger listeners to the magic of the night sky. A broad range of topics are covered including telescopes, comets, meteors, and planets. Learn about the life cycle of stars and what you can see at night with the naked eye or using telescopes. Understand the life cycle of planets and the different types of planets in the universe. Explore how stars are sorted according to their brightness and learn about some of the more important constellations that you can see at night.

Something strange is going on in the cosmos. Scientists are uncovering a catalogue of weird phenomena that simply can’t be explained by our long-established theories of the universe. Particles with unbelievable energies are bursting from beneath the Antarctic ice. Unknown forces seem to be tugging on the basic building blocks of matter. Stars are flying away from us far faster than anyone can explain. In Space Oddities, Harry Cliff provides a riveting look at the universe’s most confounding puzzles.

“How do you travel in style across the galaxy?” “What do aliens really look like?” “What is the Fermi paradox and why should we care about it?” Discover the answers to these questions and many more at the Supervillain Academy: the magnificently morbid school for young villains in training. Hear more about how the search for extraterrestrial life and the search for planets are linked, the exoplanets and extremophiles that can be found all over the galaxy, and the weird and wonderful ways scientists think we (might) be able to travel around space.

How does it feel to orbit the Earth 10 times faster than a speeding bullet? What's it like to eat, sleep and go to the toilet in space? And where to next - the moon, Mars or beyond? Ask an Astronaut is Tim's personal guide to life in space, based on his historic Principia mission and the thousands of questions he has been asked since his return to Earth.

We are living in a golden age for discoveries about the universe. Over the last few decades, space exploration has revealed that not only are there habitable environments within our solar system, but there are hundreds of millions of exoplanets within our galaxy that could support life. We are on the cusp of discoveries that will revolutionize our understanding of our place in creation. Yet a profound question remains to be answered: are we alone in the universe? We have never been closer to answering this question.

A unique blend of literary experimentation and science popularization, this delightful book is a perfect gift for any aspiring astronomer. The Edge of the Sky tells the story of the universe on a human scale, and the result is out of this world.

Let us journey, with beloved physicist Carlo Rovelli, into the heart of a black hole. Let us slip beyond its boundary, the horizon, and tumble - on and on - down this crack in the universe. As we plunge, we'll see geometry fold, we'll feel the equations draw tight around us. Eventually, we'll pass it: the remains of a star, deep and dense and falling further far. And then - the bottom. Where time and space end, and the white hole is born.

This Way to the Universe is a celebration of the astounding, ongoing scientific investigations that have revealed the nature of reality at its smallest, at its largest, and at the scale of our daily lives. The enigmas Professor Michael Dine discusses are like landmarks on a fantastic journey to the edge of the universe.

This audiobook is an exploration of infinity and new understandings of our universe which have come to light in recent decades.

From the discovery of entirely new kinds of galaxies to a window into cosmic ‘prehistory’, Bothwell shows us the universe as we’ve never seen it before - literally. Since the dawn of our species, people all over the world have gazed in awe at the night sky. But for all the beauty and wonder of the stars, when we look with just our eyes we are seeing and appreciating only a tiny fraction of the universe. What does the cosmos have in store for us beyond the phenomena we can see, from black holes to supernovas?

In 2000, Martin Bojowald, then a 27-year-old post-doc at Pennsylvania State University, used a relatively new theory called loop quantum gravity - a cunning combination of Einstein’s theory of gravity with quantum mechanics - to create a simple model of the Universe. Loop quantum cosmology was born, and with it, a theory that managed to do something even Einstein’s general theory of relativity had failed to do - illuminate the very birth of the Universe.

From the dawn of time, man has sought to understand the universe and his place in it. How did the Earth and the Solar System come to be? How was the universe created? Like other scientific disciplines, astronomy and astrophysics is one big detective story. Hypotheses are formed, observations taken, and experiments performed in the search for universal laws that describe all that we see. In this resourceful guide, common and uncommon questions about the universe will be explained in comprehensive but easy-to-understand terms.

Were ancient Greek philosophers right about reality being only an illusion? What was really the biggest blunder of Einstein's life? Is everything we've been taught about the universe incorrect? In The Unobservable Universe, visionary scientist and engineer Scott M. Tyson successfully unravels cosmology from the level of rocket science and brings it down to Earth, demystifying the universe in terms that laymen can comprehend and enjoy, splitting atoms but not hairs on this magical mystery tour of the outback of time and space.

Edwin Hubble was a man ahead of his time. For him only astronomy really mattered. He took advantage of the opportunity given to him to use the most advanced telescope of his time to determine the truth behind the most distant clouds of light visible to Earth-based observers. His major discoveries changed our knowledge of our place in the universe forever. His determination that the universe is expanding served as the foundation for the big bang theory.

In this brilliant exploration of our cosmic environment, the renowned particle physicist and New York Times best-selling author of Warped Passages and Knocking on Heaven's Door uses her research into dark matter to illuminate the startling connections between the farthest reaches of space and life here on Earth.