زمینهٔ کیهانی شما: مقدمه‌ای بر کیهان‌شناسی مدرن

Your Cosmic Context provides a framework for exploring the nature and history of our universe. Equally well suited for independent reading and study or for a one-term general education course in cosmology, this book is a guide to the key insights of scientific cosmology, including the big bang theory and exotic entities like dark matter and dark energy. It also explains how we discovered the surprising things we now know about the distant reaches of space and time, and thereby serves as one of the best available illustrations of the scientific method in action. Starting Points, The Sky We See, The Universe We Discover Through Heat and Light, The Universe We Discover Through Motion and Gravity, Clues About the Cosmos, The Fabric of Spacetime, An Expanding Universe, Photons and Electrons, The Nuclear Realm, The Big Bang Theory, History, Density, and Destiny, The Story of Structure, The Emergence of Complex Life, What Does It Mean to You? Intended for those interested in the basics of cosmology. Starting points. What do you wonder about? -- Science: a way to answer questions -- What difference does this knowledge make? -- The sky we see. Looking up -- First impressions -- Enhancing our vision -- Light waves -- Putting your knowledge of light to use -- The universe we discover through heat and light. Starlight in a particle world-- Standard candles -- The scale of the universe -- The universe we discover through motion and gravity. Enter gravity -- Stars and galaxies in motion -- Dark matter -- Clues about the cosmos. Redshifts of galaxies -- The distribution of galaxies -- Microwaves from every direction -- Common ingredients in the universe -- Comparing astronomical ages -- Olbers's paradox -- The fabric of spacetime. The curved-space concept -- Hints of a deeper gravity theory -- General relativity -- Testing general relativity with photons and gravitons -- The black hole and the event horizon -- Quasars -- An expanding universe. Spacetime and the cosmological horizon -- Cosmic expansion -- Recession and redshift -- Dark energy -- Consequences of the expansion -- Photons and electrons. Blackbody radiation -- Photons and bound electrons -- Photons and free electrons -- The cosmic microwave background -- Polarization -- The nuclear realm. Energy -- Nuclear interactions -- Thermonuclear fusion in stars -- Heavy elements and stellar genetics -- Exotic particles -- Elemental abundances -- The big bang theory. Overview of the theory -- Expansion, not explosion -- How the big bang explains our observations -- Evaluating the big bang -- History, density, and destiny. Density of the universe -- History of the universe -- Destiny of the universe -- The story of structure. Primordial harmonics -- Precision cosmology -- Cold halos, galaxies, and the dark universe -- Inflation theory -- Supplemental topic: quantum fluctuations in cosmology -- The emergence of complex life. Supplemental section: life on earth -- Life on other worlds? -- Extrasolar planets -- Intelligence on other worlds? -- What does it mean to you? What have you learned? -- Anthropic thoughts -- This is your history -- So what? finding your cosmic context. "Provides a cumulative guide to the general lessons of modern scientific cosmology, as well as the historical background that connects the nature of the universe with the reader's place in it"--Provided by publisher.