DK - Simply Astronomy

ASTRONOMY SIMPL Y

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This book w as made with Fo rest Stewardsh ip Council certied paper o ne small step in DK s commitment to a sustainable future . For mor e inform ation go t o www .dk .com/o ur-g reen-pledge DK LONDON Senior E ditor Peter Fra nces Senior A rt E ditor Phil Gamble Project Art Editor Jessica Ta polcai Editorial As sistant Michael Clark Managing Editor Angeles Gavira G uererro Managing Art Editor Michael D uy Production Editor George Nimmo Production Controller Laura A ndrews Jacket Designer Akiko Kato Associate Publishing Director Liz Whe eler Art D irector Karen Se lf Publishing Di rector Jonathan Metc alf First p ublished in Great Britain in 2021 by Dorling K indersley Limited DK, O ne Emba ssy Gard ens, 8 Viaduct Gardens, London SW1 7BW The autho rized represe ntative in the EE A i s Dorling K indersley Verl ag GmbH . Arnulf str . 4, 80636 Munich, Ge rmany. Copyright 2021 Do rling Ki ndersley L imited A Penguin R andom Hou se Company 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 001 3191 Nov /202 All rights reser ved. No part of this pu blication may be reprod uced, stored in or int roduced into a retri eval syst em, or transmitt ed, in any form , or by a ny means (elect ronic, m echanical, photoco pying, recording , or oth erwise) , witho ut the prior written permission of the cop yright own er . A CIP ca talogue r ecord fo r this bo ok is availabl e from the Br itish Libr ary . ISBN: 978 -0- 2414 -46 71-3 Printed and bound in China www. dk.com EDITORIAL CONS ULT AN T Dr Jacquel ine Mitton is the aut hor, co-au thor, or ed itor of mo re than 30 books on astronomy , i ncluding bo oks for adults and child ren. Af ter studying physics at Oxf ord Univer sity, she gained a PhD at Camb ridge Univ ersity . CONTRIBUTORS Abigail Beall studied physi cs at Durham Unive rsity and is a science journalist and author . She regularly writes and talks a bout astr onomy an d stargazing in magazi ne columns and on radio. Philip Eales studied physi cs and remote se nsing at Universit y Coll ege London. As well as writing ab out Eart h and space science, he runs a computer graphics com pany spe cializing in the visualization of astron omical and geographical data and p henomena. Anton Va mplew is a free lance astronomer and writes about astronomy in boo ks and magazines . He worke d at the planetariu m at the Royal Gree nwich Ob servato ry fo r ten years and broadca sts reg ularly on television and rad io.

WHAT IS ASTRONO MY? THE UNIVERSE MAKING SENSE OF SPA CE What is the Univer se? CELESTIAL BODIES Objects i n space THE SMALLEST UNITS Particl es BUILDING BLOCKS Atoms ACROSS TH E SPECTRUM Radiation SPLITTI NG LIGHT Spectro scopy SHIFTING LIGH T Red shi and blue shi CONTENTS THE BIRTH OF TH E UNIVERSE The Big Bang FIRST LIGHT The rst sta rs and galaxies SPAC E IS GET TING BIGG ER Expanding sp ace SEEING INTO THE PAS T Distance in s pace WARPED SPA CE AND TI ME Space-ti me RIPPLES IN SP ACE -T IME Gravitational w aves BODIES IN MOTI ON Orbits THE UNSEEN UNIVER SE Dark matt er THE ENERGY OF SPA CE Dark energy

THE SOLAR SYSTEM THE FAMIL Y OF THE SUN The Sun and planets OUR STA R The Sun THE SWIFT P LANET Mercury EARTH S SISTE R Venus HOME WORLD Earth EARTH S SAT ELLITE The Moon TURNING IN STEP The Moons orbit NEW MOON T O FULL MOON The phases of th e Moon IN THE MOON S SHADOW Solar eclipse s IN EARTH S SHADOW Lunar eclips es THE RED PLA NET Mars MARTIAN ICE Water on Mars SUPERSIZED VO LCANOES Volc anoes on Mars ROCKS IN S PAC E Asteroids KING OF THE GI ANTS Jupiter THE JOVIAN SAT ELLITES Jupiters moons THE RINGED PL ANET Saturn BANDS OF ICE Saturns rings THE METHANE MO ON Titan THE E-R ING MOON Enceladus THE SIDEWA YS PLANE T Uranus THE OUTERMOST GIANT Neptune FROZEN WORLD Pluto COLD OUTER RING The Kuipe r Belt SMALL WORLDS Dwarf p lanets CLOUD OF COMET S The Oort Cloud THE OUTER LIMIT S The edge of th e Solar Syste m COSMIC SNOWBAL LS Comets HOW COMETS O RBIT Comet orbits STREAKS OF LIGHT Meteors STREAMS O F DEBRIS Meteor shower s

STA RS AND GALAX IES LIGHTS IN TH E SKY What is a star? FROM MAT TER TO E NERGY How stars shin e DWARF S, GIANT S, AND SUPERGIANTS Typ es of sta r STA R LIFE AND DE AT H Stellar ev olution STAR BIRTH How stars for m SHELLS AND SHOCKW AVE S Planetary nebulae EXPLODING S TAR S Supernovae CRUSHED ST AR S Neutron stars COLLAPSIN G TO INFINITY Black holes COMPAN ION STA RS Multiple stars DIMMING AND BRIGHTE NING Vari able stars SIBLING STA RS Open clu sters STA R C ITIES Globular cluste rs PLANETS AROUND OTHER S TAR S Exoplanets A PLA CE TO LIV E Habitable zo nes ISLANDS O F STA RS Galaxies OUR GALA XY The Milky Wa y EXTREME ENERGY Active ga laxies GALAX IES FORM GROUPS Galaxy clusters CLUSTERS OF CLUSTE RS Galaxy superclus ters THE MACR OSCOPIC UNIVERSE The cosmological pri nciple THE COSMIC WEB Filaments and v oids

OBSERVING THE NIGHT SKY THE SKY AS A SPHE RE The celestial s phere WHEN TO SEE STA RS Time of night WHERE IN THE WO RLD Night sky and location THE ORBIT AL PLA NE Finding planets WHEN TO SPOT PLA NETS How planets align SEEING THE SK IES Observin g conditions LOST IN THE LIGH T Light polluti on COMPAR ING BRIGHTNESS The magnitude scale CELESTIAL GUIDES Star chart s JOINING DOTS IN THE SKY Starhopping LETTING IN LIGHT Aperture and magnication CHOOSING BINOCULARS Typ es of binoc ulars STAY ING FOCUSED Using binoculars THE SKY IN CLOSE -UP Tel escopes THE CONSTELLA TIO NS MAPPING THE SKY What is a conste llation? PATT ERNS IN THE SKY The constellati ons THE NORTHERN S KY Northern constellatio ns THE SOUTHERN SKY Southern conste llations THE GREAT BEAR Ursa Major STAR HOPPING FROM THE PLOUGH The sky around the Plough THE SW AN Cygnus STAR HOPPING FROM THE S QUARE OF P EGASUS The sky around Pegasus THE RAG ING BULL Tau rus THE HUNTER Orion STAR HOPPING FROM OR ION The sky around Orion THE ARCHER Sagittariu s STAR HOPPING FROM CRUX The sky around Crux INDEX