Calibrating the Cosmos describes hard science, but is gently written. It explains in clear, non-mathematical language the measurements and the interpretation of the resulting data that have led to the current understanding of the origin, evolution and properties of our expanding Big Bang universe.
Many people have a sketchy idea of the work of cosmologists, but Professor Levin's experience in teaching both scientific and liberal arts students has enabled him to impart much of our current thinking without resorting to difficult mathematics. Theoretical concepts are emphasized, in...
Calibrating the Cosmos describes hard science, but is gently written. It explains in clear, non-mathematical language the measurements and the inte...
This book is about an audacious idea: asteroengineering--literally, the physical engineering of a star, especially the star we call our Sun. It is an idea on the grandest of scales. Part science fiction, part science fact, asteroengineering is a response to a very definite and a very real problem, a problem that our distant descendants will one day have to face. It is also a universal problem that will be experienced - at some stage or other - by every extraterr- trial civilization that has or will exist. Indeed, the problem to be addressed resides within the parent stars of each and every...
This book is about an audacious idea: asteroengineering--literally, the physical engineering of a star, especially the star we call our Sun. It is an ...
This new series is aimed at the same people as the Practical Astronomy Series - in general, active amateur astronomers. However, it is also appropriate to a wider audience of astronomically-informed readers. Because optical astronomy is a science that is rather at the mercy of the weather, all amateur astronomers inevitably have periods when observing is impossible. At such times they tend to read books about astronomy and related subjects. The Astronomers' Universe Series begins by assuming an appropriate level of knowledge. Basic information about the distance,...
The Series
This new series is aimed at the same people as the Practical Astronomy Series - in general, active amateur astronomers. H...
Many excellent books have been written about the past history of the universe and of the various objects--galaxies, stars, planets-- to be found in it. All the exciting events from the original Big Bang to the appearance of human beings have been carefully recorded. Much less has been written about what comes next. What will happen to all these galaxies, stars, and planets in the future? And what will happen to us, and to any other intelligent life in the u- verse? It is obviously more dif?cult to examine the future than the past, but there are ways of doing it. Not everything in the universe...
Many excellent books have been written about the past history of the universe and of the various objects--galaxies, stars, planets-- to be found in it...
Spaceplanes From Airport to Spaceport presents a vision of the near future in which space vehicles can take off from an international airport, refuel in space, and fly regularly between the Earth and the Moon. The book is built on the solid engineering foundation prepared by David Ashford in his book Spaceflight Revolution, but develops the argument.
This is a coherent, lucid, and optimistic picture of the future aimed directly at the reader as a future space passenger which explains why the Space Tourist market could easily become the single most important factor in the mid-term...
Spaceplanes From Airport to Spaceport presents a vision of the near future in which space vehicles can take off from an international airport, refu...
Ever since its infancy, humankind has been seeking answers to some very basic and profound questions. Did the Universe begin? If it did, how old is it, and where did it come from? What is its shape? What is it made of? Fascinating myths and brilliant in- itions attempting to solve such enigmas can be found all through the history of human thought. Every culture has its own legends, itsownworldcreationtales, itsphilosophicalspeculations, itsre- gious beliefs. Modern science, however, cannot content itself with fanciful explanations, no matter how suggestive they are. No- days, our theories...
Ever since its infancy, humankind has been seeking answers to some very basic and profound questions. Did the Universe begin? If it did, how old is it...
The word ''terraforming'' conjures up many exotic images and p- hapsevenwildemotions, butatitscoreitencapsulatestheideathat worldscanbechangedbydirecthumanaction.Theultimateaimof terraforming is to alter a hostile planetary environment into one that is Earth-like, and eventually upon the surface of the new and vibrant world that you or I could walk freely about and explore. It is not entirely clear that this high goal of terraforming can ever be achieved, however, and consequently throughout much of thisbooktheterraformingideasthatarediscussedwillapplytothe goal of making just some fraction...
The word ''terraforming'' conjures up many exotic images and p- hapsevenwildemotions, butatitscoreitencapsulatestheideathat worldscanbechangedbydirect...
From prehistoric times, mankind has looked up at the night sky, and puzzled at the changing positions of the stars. How far away they are is a question that has confounded scientists for centuries. Over the last few hundred years, many scientific careers and considerable resources have been devoted to measuring their positions and motions with ever increasing accuracy. And in the last two decades of the 20th century, the European Space Agency developed and launched the Hipparcos satellite, around which this account revolves, to carry out these exacting measurements from space.
What has...
From prehistoric times, mankind has looked up at the night sky, and puzzled at the changing positions of the stars. How far away they are is a ques...
Many excellent books have been written about the past history of the universe and of the various objects--galaxies, stars, planets-- to be found in it. All the exciting events from the original Big Bang to the appearance of human beings have been carefully recorded. Much less has been written about what comes next. What will happen to all these galaxies, stars, and planets in the future? And what will happen to us, and to any other intelligent life in the u- verse? It is obviously more dif?cult to examine the future than the past, but there are ways of doing it. Not everything in the universe...
Many excellent books have been written about the past history of the universe and of the various objects--galaxies, stars, planets-- to be found in it...
Ever since its infancy, humankind has been seeking answers to some very basic and profound questions. Did the Universe begin? If it did, how old is it, and where did it come from? What is its shape? What is it made of? Fascinating myths and brilliant in- itions attempting to solve such enigmas can be found all through the history of human thought. Every culture has its own legends, itsownworldcreationtales, itsphilosophicalspeculations, itsre- gious beliefs. Modern science, however, cannot content itself with fanciful explanations, no matter how suggestive they are. No- days, our theories...
Ever since its infancy, humankind has been seeking answers to some very basic and profound questions. Did the Universe begin? If it did, how old is it...
