This book conveys the thrill of observing strange and surprising features of the universe and the satisfaction gained by understanding them through modern science. Using simple analogies and a wealth of illustrations, Professor Narlikar skilfully steers us through a cosmic journey of discovery, starting from the Earth and solar system and stepping out to the farthest reaches of the universe. Each of the seven wonders represents a range of mysterious phenomena or a class of spectacular events or remarkable cosmic objects that have challenged human curiosity and often defied explanation.

In every age, science and technology have advanced human civilization. From architecture to engineering, medicine to transportation, humans have invented extraordinary wonders. Explorers long ago and today have used technology to navigate, travel farther, and understand more about the world around them. They invented vehicles to carry people and tools to the ocean depths, high into the atmosphere, or even to other worlds. They invented scientific instruments to explore the most distant parts of the universe and the smallest bits of matter. In this book, we’ll explore seven wonders of exploration technology. Scientists have developed technology that takes us to the deepest parts of the oceans. Undersea explorations give us a glimpse of a world teeming with unique life and full of wonderful natural structures. Teams of researchers and engineers have also built orbiting space telescopes and interplanetary spacecraft to explore the farthest reaches of our solar system. Back on Earth, scientists have created computers, machines, and systems for studying climate change and the subatomic world. Learn about the people and the science behind these amazing advances in exploration technology.

Ready for a wondrous celestial journey? This extraordinary book puts you right there in the middle of our solar system: breaking through colorful gaseous hazes; exploring the surface of red-hot or ice-cold planets; hurtling through rings of flying, frozen ice chunks; and rocketing on out to deep space. Astronomer David Aguilar is our navigator on these seven wonderful trips through space—journeys that someday may actually happen!

A fascinating look at the scientific mysteries behind our everyday world—from night, light and gravity to our cosmic home and wonder itself. So much of what surrounds us feels familiar and mundane—until we look closer. C. Renée James opens the Universe to fantastical contemplation in this whimsical tour of seven everyday experiences: night, light, stuff, gravity, time, home, and wonder. James introduces each of these seven wonders with a simple question that appears to be easily answered. The questions are deceptive, though. Although we need light to see, there’s much more to it than meets the eye. When you get down to the atomic level, physical things are made of almost entirely empty space—99.9% nothing. And James’s contemplation of our place in the Universe shows that it’s not just a place to hang your hat—and that there’s really nothing else like it. James’s accessible discussion uses common analogies and entertaining illustrations to explain historical discoveries and concepts such as relativity, antimatter, and the electromagnetic spectrum. Fun and edifying, Seven Wonders of the Universe That You Probably Took for Granted is an inviting introduction to secret knowledge of our everyday world.

On July 23, 1999, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the most powerful X-ray telescope ever built, was launched aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Since then, Chandra has given us a view of the universe that is largely hidden from telescopes sensitive only to visible light. In Chandra's Cosmos, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra science spokesperson Wallace H. Tucker uses a series of short, connected stories to describe the telescope's exploration of the hot, high-energy face of the universe. The book is organized in three parts: "The Big," covering the cosmic web, dark energy, dark matter, and massive clusters of galaxies; "The Bad," exploring neutron stars, stellar black holes, and supermassive black holes; and "The Beautiful," discussing stars, exoplanets, and life. Chandra has imaged the spectacular, glowing remains of exploded stars and taken spectra showing the dispersal of their elements. Chandra has observed the region around the supermassive black hole in the center of our Milky Way and traced the separation of dark matter from normal matter in the collision of galaxies, contributing to both dark matter and dark energy studies. Tucker explores the implications of these observations in an entertaining, informative narrative aimed at space buffs and general readers alike.

RETURNING TO TELEVISION AS AN ALL-NEW MINISERIES ON FOX Cosmos is one of the bestselling science books of all time. In clear-eyed prose, Sagan reveals a jewel-like blue world inhabited by a life form that is just beginning to discover its own identity and to venture into the vast ocean of space. Featuring a new Introduction by Sagan’s collaborator, Ann Druyan, full color illustrations, and a new Foreword by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cosmos retraces the fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution that have transformed matter into consciousness, exploring such topics as the origin of life, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, spacecraft missions, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies, and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science. Praise for Cosmos “Magnificent . . . With a lyrical literary style, and a range that touches almost all aspects of human knowledge, Cosmos often seems too good to be true.”—The Plain Dealer “Sagan is an astronomer with one eye on the stars, another on history, and a third—his mind’s—on the human condition.”—Newsday “Brilliant in its scope and provocative in its suggestions . . . shimmers with a sense of wonder.”—The Miami Herald “Sagan dazzles the mind with the miracle of our survival, framed by the stately galaxies of space.”—Cosmopolitan “Enticing . . . iridescent . . . imaginatively illustrated.”—The New York Times Book Review

Witness the wonders of the Milky Way in this stunningly illustrated book that will make you feel like an astronaut! Blast off to the oldest star in our galaxy, zoom around planetary nebulae dubbed "the butterflies of space," circle past humongous, ringed exoplanets, and close in on newly discovered orbs that just might support alien life. David Aguilar, former Director of Science Information at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and creator of Cosmic Catastrophes and Seven Wonders of the Solar System, takes us on a unique space journey through the Milky Way. His beautifully rendered, painterly images are based on the latest scientific findings about our galaxy and are supported by lively, factual text about celestial wonders such as Omega Centauri, the Great Nebula in Orion, UY Scuti, the Hourglass Nebula, and headlining-making discoveries about planet J1407b, Tabby's Star, and the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system.