EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE

We live on a small planet that revolves about a star that resides in a lonely remote corner of a galaxy that swims within a sea of more than a 100 billion other galaxies, each with 100 billion stars of their own. As the merest of individual specks upon the surface of our tiny world which we call Earth, we each look out upon the vast expanse of our Universe with awe and we wonder. We wonder how it all works, where it all came from, and where it is all going. In this book we review from a purely scientific perspective what the Universe is, what galaxies are, how stars are formed and why they produce light, how planets are formed, and when our little planet came to be. We also discuss what black holes, pulsars and supernovae are. We explore what dark matter might be, and why we think there is dark energy. And we also learn what atoms are made of, why quantum mechanics rules the Universe of the tiny, and how Einstein’s Theory of Relatively rules the Universe of the immense. This book takes a broad perspective intended to familiarize the general reader with a thorough understanding of the mysteries of the Universe. The latest up-to-date discoveries are reviewed and the book is illustrated with recent telescopic photographs of the incredible Universe that we live within.