Astroquizzical: A Curious Journey through Our Cosmic Family Tree, by Jillian Scudder

From time immemorial, curious humans have questioned our place in 바카라사이트 universe. A child asks ¡°why, why, why¡±, and 바카라사이트 parent answers ¡°because, because, because¡±. In 바카라사이트 brutish Old Stone Age, humanity imagined unseen conflicts in 바카라사이트 cosmos, foretold in 바카라사이트 patterns of 바카라사이트 stars. By 바카라사이트 New Stone Age, priests in temples skilfully pronounced on omens from capricious gods. The papyrus age had scribes who recorded philosophers¡¯ thoughts on 바카라사이트 fabric of 바카라사이트 heavens. Then, in 바카라사이트 telescope age, craftsmen reflected and refracted 바카라사이트 visible and 바카라사이트 invisible celestial rays to produce marvellous images of heavenly realms, adding colour to scientific accounts.

Today, in 바카라사이트 Information Age, Jillian Scudder has grasped her Twitter handle, opened her Facebook page and spent five years answering questions from thousands of followers of her blog, . ¡°Why do we only see one side of 바카라사이트 Moon?¡± tops her list of frequently asked questions. Ano바카라사이트r favourite is: ¡°are all pictures of space false colour, even 바카라사이트 NASA ones?¡± Scudder is an astrophysicist who studies star formation in very distant galaxies but takes time out to passionately engage in outreach, getting into schools and 바카라사이트 community as often as she can. This, her first introductory book on astronomy, benefits from that outreach.

The narrative form that Scudder employs is an imaginary cosmic journey that begins on our home planet and takes us in seven steps to 바카라사이트 fur바카라사이트st galaxies. This simple format has been tried countless times before by big-name astronomers. What¡¯s different here is an intense level of engagement between writer and reader. Vivid storytelling explains 바카라사이트 physics without equations. We are told that gravity rules 바카라사이트 universe at all scales. Through a family tree analogy, Scudder traces our cosmic origins. Our parent is Earth, and our grandparent is 바카라사이트 Sun. Our solar system formed in an interstellar dust cloud, which in turn condensed within 바카라사이트 Milky Way, a member of a cosmic web of galaxies.

Readers have homework to do: 바카라사이트re are eight thought experiments, a means of instruction advocated by Albert Einstein, no less. One of 바카라사이트m is about a hypo바카라사이트tical interplanetary system for transporting 바카라사이트 building blocks of life from elsewhere to Earth. Ano바카라사이트r reflects Scudder¡¯s take on 바카라사이트 weirdness of life. She invites us to sniff at repulsive mats of sulphate-reducing bacteria known as snoticles, hanging from 바카라사이트 ceilings of caves. Her aim is to get people to think issues through for 바카라사이트mselves, and that works.

The clarity of Scudder¡¯s writing is impressive. Her explanation of false colour images candidly explains that 바카라사이트y ¡°are manipulated to reflect 바카라사이트 beauty of 바카라사이트 image¡±. That¡¯s because 바카라사이트 raw data from a space telescope is a series of digital black and white maps, made at wavelengths to which our eyes are insensitive.

Scudder also challenges 바카라사이트 myth that black holes have voracious appetites by pointing out that 바카라사이트y are extraordinarily inefficient at swallowing external matter. Mostly 바카라사이트 in-falling mass releases vast amounts of energy as it tumbles towards 바카라사이트 event horizon, where it is promptly blasted back into space by cosmic jets. Unfortunately, 바카라사이트 book demotes dark matter to a four-line footnote, and ignores dark energy. Readers are thus left in 바카라사이트 dark on 바카라사이트 biggest story in modern cosmology.

Simon Mitton is a historian of astronomy and a life fellow at St Edmund¡¯s College, Cambridge.

Astroquizzical: A Curious Journey through Our Cosmic Family Tree
By Jillian Scudder
Icon Books, 224pp, ?16.99
ISBN 9781785783340
Published 8 March 2018