Astronomy/Cosmology for the innocent.

[Andy in Sig]

Could anybody recommend a good book on general cosmology for the interested lay reader?

My interest has been sparked by having read recently about how it is estimated that there are countless zillions of stars even in our own milky way (had I been asked to guess I would have gone for somewhere between half a million and a million). I'm not scared of a bit of physics having bashed through Hawking's A Brief History of Time and having more or less understood it.

I'm looking for something that's going to provide an idea of the sheer size of the universe and what is known about how it works but at a level a bit more advanced than for interested fourteen year olds. That said, a few pictures wouldn't hurt.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Colin_P]

I'd start by downloading Stellarium which defaults with 600,000 stars and then further download the extended catalogue which has 200,000,000 stars, nebulas, galaxies and even Earth orbit satellites.

Once downloaded and once dark, set up a comfy reclining chair, grab a few beers, your laptop, set Stellarium to night mode and explore the sky and prepare to be mind boggled at the sheer scale of what surrounds us.

[edit]

Be quick as towards the end of May there is no astonomical twilight until late July. But during that time it is the season for satellite spotting.

 

[MontyVeda]

...
I'm looking for something that's going to provide an idea of the sheer size of the universe...

it's big... very big. The known universe is wide and flattish, which suggests we're only looking at a small part of it. Imagine trying to guess the size of the earth from what you can see around where you're stood... a few miles this way and a few miles that way, you can dig down a few hundred feet and look up at the clouds, but it doesn't really help when it comes to the planet as a whole... it the same with the universe. Science men are just guessing based on what they can see... but have no idea how big it really is.

 

[Colin_P]

This is good if you have never seen it.

http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html

 

[marinyork]

A textbook, however I think it's so good for a general audience I'm going to recommend it.

An introduction to Galaxies and Cosmology, January 2015 - Jones, Lambourne and Serjeant. 2nd revised edition Cambridge University Press/Open University.

The older 2010 edition is knocking around.

Before it scares anyone off it's half of a 'second level' Open University module, which depending on your background some would argue is equivalent to first year red brick uni/second year poly or second year redbrick. The galaxies and superstructure will give you a much better idea of what you are asking for than a 'general' book on cosmology (having read lots). Anyone who has studied any maths post 16 should be fine with the level of maths in this textbook whether they are good/bad/rusty.

 

[Profpointy]

Could anybody recommend a good book on general cosmology for the interested lay reader?

My interest has been sparked by having read recently about how it is estimated that there are countless zillions of stars even in our own milky way (had I been asked to guess I would have gone for somewhere between half a million and a million). I'm not scared of a bit of physics having bashed through Hawking's A Brief History of Time and having more or less understood it.

I'm looking for something that's going to provide an idea of the sheer size of the universe and what is known about how it works but at a level a bit more advanced than for interested fourteen year olds. That said, a few pictures wouldn't hurt.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Malcolm Longair "Our evolving universe". I bought mine full price at £30 and it was worth every penny. I see it's 1 new pence plus post nowdays on Amazon. Very accessible but real science. Having enjoyed this I bought a couple more of Prof L's rather harder books too - but these are serious texbooks and harder work but still have his nice style.
Couple of others a touch harder but still Ok for the gentleman-amateur would be the cambridge university press / open university series including Lambourne & Jones "introduction to galaxies and cosmology" On more specific topics Kitchin "galaxies in turmoil" and Wheeler "cosmic catastrophies" are again very readible.

I could recommend a load more but these would be a great start

For what it's worth I didn't think much of "brief history" as it was such a mish mash of rather over simplified relativity mixed with some of H's wilder speculation. Best lay person's relativity book I've read is Einstein's own . This is His simplified book for amateurs; it's great

 

[TVC]

All you need to know is:
1. There are more stars in the visible universe than there are grains of sand on Earth.
2. Because we are part of the Universe, and we know we are in a Universe, that means the Universe is self aware.
3. It wasn't cooked up by a beardy bloke 4000 years ago.

 

[TVC]

For a bit of nicely pitched viewing try the documentaries of Jim Al-khalili, accessable but a lot more grown up than the whistful musings of Brian Cox.

 

[Dirk]

Apparently there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all of the beaches on Earth.

There are also more atoms in a tablespoon of water than there are stars in the universe.

It all makes you feel very insignificant.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I always get confused between Astonomy and Astrology, I thought we were going to be getting Zoltar in Sig

 

[Fab Foodie]

Space is big. Really big. So big it's hard to imagine just how big space really is.

 

[Profpointy]

Space is big. Really big. So big it's hard to imagine just how big space really is.

One of many good things about the Prof Longair book I recommended upthread is that he manages to turn this on its head by going from "everday" distances then out to the moon, sun and planets then the stars just by multiplying by 100s or 1000s each time. eg earth to moon is lifetime mileage of a car or whatever it is. By multiplying up each time by quite managable factors and in a couple of pages he's out to the edge of the observable universe.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

The universe isn't all that big. There are fewer starts in the universe than the dilution ratios in your average homeopathic muti.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Should the names and locations of stars not be your cup of tea, some background understanding to the universe may well be. Try these:

Knocking on Heaven's Door. How Physics and scientific thinking illuminate the universe and the modern world. By Lisa Randall.
Galileo's finger : the ten great ideas of science. by Peter Atkins.

 

[marinyork]

All you need to know is:
1. There are more stars in the visible universe than there are grains of sand on Earth.
2. Because we are part of the Universe, and we know we are in a Universe, that means the Universe is self aware.
3. It wasn't cooked up by a beardy bloke 4000 years ago.

I would say key concepts are phase transitions, quantum tunnelling, space-time geometry, false vacuum, bubble nucleation, spontaneous symmetry breaking etc. Taken individually these are devastatingly simple concepts on their own. Unfortunately they are relatively inaccessible because one usually has to do a quite a few years of university physics/maths to encounter them.