Astroquizzical: A Curious Journey Through Our Cosmic Family Tree

by Jillian Scudder

Overview

In this enthralling cosmic journey through space and time, astrophysicist Jillian Scudder locates our home planet within its own 'family tree'. Our parent the Earth and its sibling planets in our solar system formed within the same gas cloud. 

Without our grandparent the Sun, we would not exist, and the Sun in turn relies on the Milky Way as its home. The Milky Way rests in a larger web of galaxies that traces its origins right back to tiny fluctuations in the very early universe.
Following these cosmic connections, we discover the many ties that bind us to our universe. 



Based around readers' questions from the author's popular blog 'Astroquizzical', the book provides a quirky guide to how things work in the universe and why things are the way they are, from shooting stars on Earth, to black holes, to entire galaxies.
For anyone interested in the 'big picture' of how the cosmos functions and how it is all connected, Jillian Scudder is the perfect guide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785783340
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing
Publication date:	03/08/2018
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Jillian Scudder is an astrophysicist and assistant professor at Oberlin College, Ohio. She has been writing 'Astroquizzical', a blog answering space-related questions from the public, for over five years. Her writing has also been published in Forbes, Quartz, Medium, and The Conversation. This is her first book.

Table of Contents

About the author vii

Acknowledgments xi

List of illustrations xiii

List of thought experiments xvii

Timeline xix

Prologue xxi

Chapter 1 A Human Perspective 1

Chapter 2 The Moon 31

Chapter 3 The Solar System 57

Chapter 4 Stars 123

Chapter 5 Stellar Deaths 173

Chapter 6 Galaxies 221

Chapter 7 The Universe at Large 251

Index 275

Editorial Reviews

'A wonderful jaunt through the universe at every scale, and a great way to fill in every gap in knowledge you have about astronomy.'

Zach Weinersmith

'Scudder's mission is to provide the lay reader with a thorough grounding in the basics of astronomical knowledge. ... The writing is fluid and direct with the subject material brought vibrantly to life. ... For astro novices this book ... will bring a welcome depth to their appreciation of the night sky and the wonders it holds.'

BBC Sky at Night magazine

'genuinely entertaining ... well-written ... fascinating ... quirky ... an excellent balance of enthusiasm and facts ... a good balance of illustrations ... Scudder is particularly good at explaining how the stunning colour images are multi-layered black and white images from different coloured filters. This is the kind of book that would be excellent to get either a teenage reader or an adult with limited exposure to astronomy interested in the field. It reads well and gives basic details without being patronising. It's a cosmic journey that I enjoyed.'

popularscience.co.uk