Neil Comins’ Discovering the Universe is highly acclaimed for bringing the excitement of scientific discovery to the one-term astronomy course. Vivid writing and images, conceptual and mathematical support, and a focus on common mistakes and misunderstandings have made the book a longtime classroom bestseller.

The new edition captures the current state of our understanding of the cosmos, with new findings, new study help, and an expanded new media/supplements package centered on W.H. Freeman’s breakthrough online course space, LaunchPad.

Also Available: Updated 11th Edition

Preface

Part I Understanding Astronomy
Chapter 1 Discovering the Night Sky
WHAT IF… Earth’s Axis Lay on the Ecliptic?
Chapter 2 Gravitation and the Motion of the Planets 41
Chapter 3 Light and Telescopes
WHAT IF… Humans Had Infrared-Sensitive Eyes?
Chapter 4 Atomic Physics and Spectra

Part II Understanding the Solar System
Chapter 5 Formation of the Solar System and Other Planetary Systems
Chapter 6 Earth and the Moon
WHAT IF… The Moon Didn’t Exist?
Chapter 7 The Other Terrestrial Planets
Chapter 8 The Outer Planets
WHAT IF… We Lived on a Metal-Poor Earth?
Chapter 9 Vagabonds of the Solar System
Chapter 10 The Sun: Our Extraordinary Ordinary Star

Part III Understanding the Stars
Chapter 11 Characterizing Stars
Chapter 12 The Lives of Stars from Birth Through Middle Age
WHAT IF… Earth Orbited a 1.5-M⊙ Sun?
Chapter 13 The Deaths of Stars
WHAT IF… A Supernova Exploded Near Earth?
Chapter 14 Black Holes: Matters of Gravity

Part IV Understanding the Universe
Chapter 15 The Milky Way Galaxy
Chapter 16 Galaxies 4
WHAT IF… The Solar System Were Located Closer to the Center of the Galaxy?
Chapter 17 Quasars and Other
Chapter 18 Cosmology
Chapter 19 Astrobiology

Appendices