All About Space Tour of the Universe 5Th ED
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GALAXIES OBSERVATORY SPACEX UniverseTour of the An awe-inspiring journey through space SATURN PLANETS Voyage through BLACKHOLES the Milky Way THE SUN ASTEROID BELTS Discover hidden universes mÍÍWitness supernovas m Delve into black holes Welcome to the Tour Universeof the When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the Moon he declared that it was “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Join us as we step further than you have ever imagined – beyond our Solar System and out into deep space. Journey through our home galaxy, explore our neighbour planets and discover the brutal force of our central star. You will i nd out all about the ongoing search for extra terrestrial life, and discover how humanity might manage to relocate to Titan in the future. There are so many incredible known phenomena in our universe, and you’ll i nd the greatest and most awe-inspiring here. In this new edition, explore everything from the Milky Way and mega storms to Moon dust and holographic universes. Turn the page and prepare to be astonished by the wonders of the universe we live in. Tour Universeof the Imagine Publishing Ltd Richmond House 33 Richmond Hill Bournemouth Dorset BH2 6EZ +44 (0) 1202 586200 Website: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk Twitter: @Books_Imagine Facebook: www.facebook.com/ImagineBookazines Publishing Director Aaron Asadi Head of Design Ross Andrews Editor in Chief Jon White Production Editor Hannah Westlake Senior Art Editor Greg Whitaker Designer Alexander Phoenix Credit NASA, ESO Printed by William Gibbons, 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3XT Distributed in the UK, Eire & the Rest of the World by Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU Tel 0203 787 9060 www.marketforce.co.uk Distributed in Australia by Gordon & Gotch Australia Pty Ltd, 26 Rodborough Road, Frenchs Forest, NSW, 2086 Australia Tel +61 2 9972 8800 www.gordongotch.com.au Disclaimer The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this bookazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the publisher. All copyrights are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review. Although the bookazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change. This bookazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. All About Space Tour of the Universe Fifth Edition © 2016 Imagine Publishing Ltd ISBN 9781785464027 Part of the bookazine series Contents Explore the galaxies Discover the Solar System Sights of the universe 22 Journey through the 64 All about the Sun 100 Mega storms Milky Way Find out all about the only star in our Find out about the deadly weather What do we still have to learn about Solar System in space our universe? 76 The Moon 110 What happens inside 30 The 1969 Lunar Lander Explore the Earth's only natural satellite a star? Explore the i rst commercially 78 Learn about the inner-workings of produced spacecraft Comets, asteroids & a star meteor showers 32 10 daring space rescues Discover the rocks that are l ying at speed 112 How planets form Meet the teams that risked it all to save through space Discover how our planet came human lives into being 86 Escape to Titan 42 Search for life A tiny moon in orbit around Saturn could 118 How do orbits work? Is there really life out there? be our next home Explore what keeps the planets from colliding with each other 51 5 facts about rockets 94 Exploring Io How are we able to go beyond our own The most dangerous moon in our Solar 120 What are asteroids atmosphere and into space? System is wracked with volcanoes made of? Explore the physical properties of 52 Landing on Titan these space rocks Celebrate the tenth anniversary of landing on Saturn's giant moon 124 5 facts about Moon dust What is this mysterious material and 54 The world's biggest rocket what can we learn from it? The Space Launch System is set to take us further into space than ever before 126 Is the universe a hologram? The reality of the cosmos may be stranger than you think Page 8 Discover the wonders of the universe 6 Into deep space 136 Frozen stellar giant Learn all about the weirdest stars in the galaxy 144 Behemoth galaxy A monster of a galaxy at the heart of the Perseus cluster 146 Starquakes What can the seismic forces emitting from stars tell us? 150 Deepest ever view of the universe Take a look at the deepest image Hubble has ever taken 152 Bubble Nebula What's behind this interstellar phenomenon in space? 154 Hidden universes Discover what the universe is hiding from us and how 162 When galaxies collide Observe the rarity of colliding galaxies 164 The Sombrero Galaxy Explore the space phenomenon that is two types of galaxy at once 166 Galactic ghosts Discover the eight shadowy galaxies only visible due to an energetic quasar 168 Failed stars & super Jupiters Understand how the biggest stars push the limits of astrophysics ©NASA 7 Discover the wonders of the universe 8 Discover the wonders of the universe Discover theWonders of the UniverseFrom exploring our Solar System to the mysteries of deep space, find out what makes our universe so amazing 9 Discover the wonders of the universe Spherical holes Although it’s easier to visualise them as cosmic plugholes, black holes exist in four dimensions What is (the usual three, plus time), so they’d actually look like a ball, rather a black than a disc. Event Horizon The lip of the black hole? hole separating the All sorts of weird and wonderful chaos below from the things can happen when a star dies, relative safety of the rest of the universe such as neutron stars and white is called the Event dwarfs. Undoubtedly the weirdest of Horizon. It’s the point them all, however, are the birth of of no return that even stellar black holes. Like all the best photons can’t outrun. enigmas of the universe, black holes are as misunderstood as they are Feeding frenzy mysterious and as hard to observe as The space approaching they are to comprehend. the Event Horizon of a Stellar black holes are most black hole isn’t as dark commonly formed from the remnants as you might think – as of particularly massive stars when particles of matter they die – their cores collapsing with spiral in, friction heats a staggering force that defies our them to astronomical temperatures. understanding of the laws of physics. As the star’s mass is forced into an ever-smaller space, the gravitational forces involved effectively rips a hole Size is relative in the fabric of the universe creating Black holes come in all sizes: stellar a singularity – the point at which all (up to 20 times the mass of the Sun), supermassive (millions of solar masses, calculations break down, resulting found at the heart of galaxies) and in infinite loop instead of a number. microscopic. As small as a single atom, The end result? The total and utter super-tiny black holes with the mass annihilation of matter and an ‘ERROR’ of Mount Everest are thought to have screen on the physicist’s calculator. formed at the beginning of the universe. How the universe will end Without the theory of the Big Bang we Other popular views on when and zero’. At this point the universe would wouldn’t have much to go on when it how the universe will end include the cease to move and would become stable, comes to estimating what the fate of the Big Crunch, which is the theory that the possibly existing forever. universe may be. Thankfully, we can universe will eventually start shrinking Either that, or our universe could come up with several theories for how back to a singularity and re-spawn a new actually be a multiverse and every other the universe might end based on our universe, possibly signifying the endless possible end to the universe could quite observations of the cosmos, namely that it cycle of our universe’s life and death. feasibly be happening right now. Since appears to be expanding at an accelerating There is also the Big Rip theory, where a multiverse of infinite ‘verses’ would rate, but some theories suggest this won’t the expansion of the universe would require infinite space and energy, the be the case forever. continue to accelerate at such a rate that all multiverse would never cease to exist. For example, the False Vacuum theory the matter would be forcibly ripped apart states that a so-called ‘metastability event’ at the seams. Start: The Big Bang could cause the vacuum of space to ‘ping’ However, the most popular of all current During the first 10-32 seconds into a lower energy state changing the theories is the Big Freeze, which simply following the Big Bang, tiny quantum rules of space, time and matter. If this is dictates that the expansion – and cooling fluctuations ballooned into a size the case the entire universe could end at – of the universe will continue unabated where they would have been visible to any moment. until everything in it reaches ‘absolute the human eye. 10 Discover the wonders of the universe 96% Like regular matter, 3D models of universe like this Hubble survey predict that dark matter is distributed unevenly is missing throughout the universe The chilling discovery came to light in the Nineties The globular image above depicts the distribution of Gravity when astronomers realised the universe’s expansion was dark matter across the universe.