From the Big Bang to Planet X
Answers to the 50 Most Asked Questions About the Universe
Over 30 years of speaking at planetariums, editing Astronomy magazine, writing a weekly column in The Toronto Star on the topic of astronomy and writing 10 books on the subject, Terence Dickinson has been asked literally thousands of questions about the universe around us. In From the Big Bang to Planet X, he winnows the crop down to the top 50 questions that he has been asked most frequently and answers them.
Appropriately Beginning in the SkyDome
Before answering the questions, Dickinson begins with a visualization exercise to help the reader grasp the enormity of space. Placing the sun at home plate in Toronto's SkyDome Stadium, he places the planets at their scale distances from the baseball sized sun at the plate. Earth (in scale the size of the ball on a ball point pen) sits approximately 1/3 the distance from the plate to the pitcher's mound, while Pluto (in 1993 still considered a planet) lies somewhere around the farthest point within the building, in the track on which the roof revolves.
The Universe
Chapter one, The Universe, answers questions about the Big Bang Theory and alternative theories of the creation of the universe. The evidence for the expanding universe and questions about the ultimate end of the universe are also explored.
Stars
Questions about the brightness of stars, their distance from us and the ways in which those distances are measured are all answered in the second chapter. Black holes and the vacuum between the stars are also dealt with.
Planets
The third chapter explores the possible existence of Planet X, the fabled tenth planet in the solar system. It also deals with extra solar planets and the "face" on Mars. Written at a time when the solar system numbered Pluto among the planets and no extra solar planets had yet been directly observed, much of chapter three has been superseded by new data. It is still fascinating to look backward 15 years to see what the leading edge of science was saying about planets at the end of the Twentieth Century.
The Sun and the Moon
Chapter four deals with subjects such as whether or not telescopes can detect the equipment left behind on the lunar surface during the moon landings of the late 1960's and early 1970's. The various optical illusions and visual phenomenon associated with the sun and the moon are also explained.
Stargazing
The fifth chapter explores the constellations in the night sky, the Aurora Borealis, and the best equipment to use for stargazing.
Aliens and More...
The final chapter deals with various questions that don't fit within the first five chapters, including the search for intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, the equipment used by professional scientists for astronomy and meteorites that reach the ground.
Further Reading
From the Big Bang to Planet X has a very useful appendix after the body of the book, where interested readers can find recommendations for further reading. Dickinson tailors the recommendations to fit each question as asked in the book, so readers can quickly find reference material that they can find to further their knowledge of whatever area of astronomy interests them most.
Despite having some of the information rendered irrelevant in the 15 years since publication, From the Big Bang to Planet X is the perfect introduction to the science of astronomy for anyone curious about the universe around us.
From the Big Bang to Planet X, Published by Camden House Publishing, Copyright 1993 by Terrence Dickinson.
ISBN: 0-921820-71-2
From the Big Bang to Planet X
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Reading & Literature
Latest Articles