Universe

PART I: INTRODUCING ASTRONOMY.- 1. Astronomy and the Universe.- Guest Essay: Why Astronomy? by Sandra M. Faber.- 2. Knowing the Heavens.- Guest Essay: Why Astrology Is Not Science by James Randi.- 3. Eclipses and the Motion of the Moon.- Guest Essay: Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy by Mark Hollabaugh.- 4. Gravitation and the Waltz of the Planets.- 5. The Nature of Light.- 6. Optics and Telescopes.- PART II: PLANETS AND MOONS.- 7. Comparative Planetology I: Our Solar System.- 8. Comparative Planetology II: The Origin of Our Solar System.- Scientific American article: Dangling a COROT by Alexander Hellemans.- 9. The Living Earth.- 10. Our Barren Moon.- 11. Mercury, Venus, and Mars: Earthlike yet Unique.- Scientific American article: Father of Spirit and Opportunity by David Appell.- 12. Jupiter and Saturn: Lords of the Planets.- 13. Jupiter and Saturn's Satellites of Fire and Ice.- 14. Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and the Kuiper Belt: Remote Worlds.- 15. Vagabonds of the Solar System.- Guest Essay: Pluto and the Kuiper Belt by Scott Sheppard.- PART III: STARS AND STELLAR EVOLUTION.- 16. Our Star, the Sun.- 17. The Nature of the Stars.- 18 The Birth of Stars.- 19. Stellar Evolution: On and After the Main Sequence.- 20. Stellar Evolution: The Deaths of Stars.- 21. Neutron Stars.- 22. Black Holes.- PART IV: GALAXIES AND COSMOLOGY.- 23. Our Galaxy.- 24. Galaxies.- 25. Quasars and Active Galaxies.- 26. Cosmology: The Origin and Evolution of the Universe.- Scientific American article: Dark Forces at Work by David Appell.- 27. Exploring the Early Universe.- Scientific American article: Making Sense of Modern Cosmology by P. James E. Peebles.- 28. The Search for Extraterrestrial Life.- Guest Essay: A Biologist's View of Astrobiology by Kevin W. Plaxco.

Roger A. Freedman, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.Robert M. Geller, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA