1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910300422003321

Autore

Sheehan William

Titolo

Galactic Encounters : Our Majestic and Evolving Star-System, From the Big Bang to Time's End / / by William Sheehan, Christopher J. Conselice

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, NY : , : Springer New York : , : Imprint : Springer, , 2015

ISBN

0-387-85347-2

Edizione

[1st ed. 2015.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (400 p.)

Disciplina

520

530

Soggetti

Observations, Astronomical

Astronomy—Observations

Astronomy

Astrophysics

Astronomy, Observations and Techniques

Popular Science in Astronomy

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Popular works.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Acknowledgements -- Preface -- Chapter 1: Setting the Scene -- Chapter 2: Catchpole of the Nebulae -- Chapter 3: "I Have Looked Farther."- Chapter 4: Chimneys and Tubules of the Galaxy -- Chapter 5: Of Leviathans, Spirals and Fire-Mists -- Chapter 6: The Various Twine of Light -- Chapter 7: Fields of Glory -- Chapter 8: What Stuff Stars Are Made Of -- Chapter 9: The Nebula is Leaving the Solar System -- Chapter 10: The "Galactocentric" Revolution -- Chapter 12: W.W. Morgan and the Discovery of the Spiral Arms of the Milky Way -- Chapter 13: To Forge a Galaxy -- Chapter 14: Over the Dark Side: Dark Matter, Black Holes and the Origin of the Universe -- Chapter 15: Dark Energy -- Chapter 16: Afterglows -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

Written by William Sheehan, a noted historian of astronomy, and Christopher J. Conselice, a professional astronomer specializing in galaxies in the early universe, this book tells the story of how



astronomers have pieced together what is known about the vast and complicated systems of stars and dust known as galaxies. The first galaxies appeared as violently disturbed exotic objects when the Universe was only a few 100 million years old. From that tortured beginning, they have evolved though processes of accretion, merging and star formation into the majestic spirals and massive ellipticals that dominate our local part of the Universe. This of course includes the Milky Way, to which the Sun and Solar System belong; it is our galactic home, and the only galaxy we will ever know from the inside. Sheehan and Conselice show how astronomers’ understanding has grown from the early catalogs of Charles Messier and William Herschel; developed through the pioneering efforts of astronomers like E.E. Barnard, V.M. Slipher, Henrietta Leavitt, Edwin Hubble and W.W. Morgan; and finally is reaching fruition in cutting-edge research with state-of-the-art instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope that can see back to nearly the beginning of the Universe. By combining archival research that reveals fascinating details about the personalities, rivalries and insights of the astronomers who created extragalactic astronomy with the latest data gleaned from a host of observations, the authors provide a view of galaxies – and their place in our understanding of the Universe – as they have never been seen before. .