Cosmos

Product Description

The magnificent vault of stars emblazoning Earth's night skies are but an infinitesimal fraction of the hundreds of billions that inhabit our galaxy
- & there are at least as many galaxies in the universe as there are stars in the Milky Way. Cosmos makes sense of this dizzying celestial panorama by exploring it one step at a time illustrating the planets moons stars nebulae white dwarfs black holes & other exotica that populate the heavens with some of science's most spectacular photographs. The book opens with an orbital survey of planet Earth before venturing into the solar system heading for interstellar space & the heart of our galaxy. As the journey unfolds the rhythms of stellar life emerge: we pass through dark clouds of dust & gas ablaze with newly smelted stars & we witness dying stars bloom & fade as planetary nebulae or tear themselves apart as supernovae. Having crossed the Milky Way we enter intergalactic space. Out here we watch the hidden lives of galaxies: we see them flock & cluster forming massive conglomerations that span millions of light years visibly warping space with their tremendous gravity. After covering an almost unimaginable 13.4 billion light years we approach the edge of space & the dawn of time where our voyage must end but not before we consider how the universe was born & how it might die.