"An acclaimed science writer tells the story of cosmic projectiles that may be on a collision course with our Earth.
The impact of an asteroid led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Could another giant cosmic missile soon be heading our way? In Target Earth, acclaimed Dutch astronomy writer Govert Schilling provides a full account of what we know, and need to know, about all the extraterrestrial matter constantly bombarding our planet—from microscopic dust particles and space debris to massive meteorites, comets, and asteroids.
Drawing upon the latest scientific discoveries, Schilling explores virtually every aspect of cosmic impacts—from small meteorites to devastating collisions, from the craters that marked our planet's surface to the impacts that left their mark on other celestial bodies, and from searches for near-miss lumps of rock to ways of protecting humanity from an assault from the cosmos. Along the way, he considers near misses in the past and the possibility of others in the future and ponders the positive side of these visitations from space: If our planet had not been the target of cosmic rubble from its very formation, life on Earth would likely never have gotten started."
"When you train a telescope on outer space, you can see luminous galaxies, nebulae, stars, and planets. But if you add all that together, it constitutes only 15 percent of the matter in the universe. Despite decades of research, the nature of the remaining 85 percent is unknown. We call it dark matter.
In The Elephant in the Universe, Govert Schilling explores the fascinating history of the search for dark matter. Evidence for its existence comes from a wealth of astronomical observations. Theories and computer simulations of the evolution of the universe are also suggestive: they can be reconciled with astronomical measurements only if dark matter is a dominant component of nature. Physicists have devised huge, sensitive instruments to search for dark matter, which may be unlike anything else in the cosmos—some unknown elementary particle. Yet so far dark matter has escaped every experiment. Indeed, dark matter is so elusive that some scientists are beginning to suspect there might be something wrong with our theories about gravity or with the current paradigms of cosmology. Schilling interviews both believers and heretics and paints a colorful picture of the history and current status of dark matter research, with astronomers and physicists alike trying to make sense of theory and observation."
"Ripples in Spacetime is an engaging account of the international effort to complete Einstein's project, capture his elusive ripples, and launch an era of gravitational-wave astronomy that promises to explain, more vividly than ever before, our universe’s structure and origin.
The quest for gravitational waves involved years of risky research and many personal and professional struggles that threatened to derail one of the world's largest scientific endeavors. Govert Schilling takes listeners to sites where these stories unfolded—including Japan's KAGRA detector, Chile's Atacama Cosmology Telescope, the South Pole's BICEP detectors, and the United States' LIGO labs. He explains the seeming impossibility of developing technologies sensitive enough to detect waves from two colliding black holes in the very distant universe, and describes the astounding precision of the LIGO detectors. Along the way Schilling clarifies concepts such as general relativity, neutron stars, and the big bang using language that listeners with little scientific background can grasp."
"Sterrenkunde is een van de oudste wetenschappen. Onze verre voorouders hadden al ingenieuze ideeën over de structuur van de kosmos en de plaats van de aarde en de mens in het heelal. Vooral dankzij de uitvinding van de telescoop is de ontwikkeling van de astronomie in een stroomversnelling geraakt.
Sterrenkundejournalist Govert Schilling vertelt over de geschiedenis van de astronomie, met een nadruk op hoe de sterrenkunde ons wereldbeeld bepaalt.
Inhoud
College 1. Sterrenkunde in de oudheid
Hoofdstuk 1. De oorsprong van de sterrenkunde
Hoofdstuk 2. Het geocentrische wereldbeeld
Hoofdstuk 3. Sterrenkunde in andere culturen
College 2. Een nieuw wereldbeeld, een nieuw instrument
Hoofdstuk 4. Het heliocentrische wereldbeeld
Hoofdstuk 5. De uitvinding van de telescoop
Hoofdstuk 6. Nieuwe ontdekkingen in een eindeloos heelal
College 3. De ontdekking van het uitdijende heelal
Hoofdstuk 7. Metingen in het Melkwegstelsel
Hoofdstuk 8. Het evoluerend heelal
Hoofdstuk 9. De opkomst van de astrofysica
College 4. Moderne sterrenkunde, moderne mysteries
Hoofdstuk 10. Nieuwe wegen voor de sterrenkunde
Hoofdstuk 11. Van exoplaneten tot zwarte gaten
Hoofdstuk 12. Het mysterieuze heelal"
"In deze poëtische vertelling over de sterrenkunde behandelt Govert Schilling de levensloop van ons heelal. Hoe is het zover gekomen dat wij bestaan, dat planeten geboren worden en sterren sterven? Vanaf het prille begin vlak na de oerknal neemt Schilling u mee op een fascinerende reis door de evolutie van de kosmos.
Inhoud
College 1
Hoofdstuk 1. De geboorte van het heelal
Hoofdstuk 2. De heerschappij van de zwaartekracht
Hoofdstuk 3. Het ontstaan en de levensloop van sterren
College 2
Hoofdstuk 4. De evolutie van het zonnestelsel
Hoofdstuk 5. De toekomst van zon en aarde
Hoofdstuk 6. Het einde van het heelal"
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