Stars and Supernovas

Exploring the nature, evolution, and life cycle of the most numerous bodies in space, Star and Supernovas presents an absorbing account of the object of fascination and wonder since the beginning of humanity. The book begins by looking at stars an constellations as they appear to us in the night sky, and goes on the examine some of the ideas that ancient pre-scientific cultures had about their nature, behavior, and significance.

We see how astronomers have been able to discover the true nature of stars and measure their distances, brilliancies, temperatures, and chemical compositions. also, we learn about supergiants, white dwarfs, and about stars that move in pairs, starts that vary in brightness, and stars that explode.

By looking at how massive stars collapse and explode to form supernovas, se see how bizarre objects such as neutron stars and black holes are created. In old age and death, some stars' material is absorbed into new generations of stars and planets; eventually though, all of the available gases in our Galaxy will have been converted and star formation will cease. Unbelievable as it may seem, in a few hundred trillion years, stars will no longer shine. An absorbing account of one of the natural wonders of the Universe, Stars and Supernovas uses the latest research combined with spectacular images to take the reader on a journey of discovery through the starry cosmos.