Showing titles in Astronomy

Who are we, and how did we get here? These are two of the most fundamental and far-reaching questions facing scientists and cosmologists alike and have rested at the center of human intellectual endeavor since its beginning. They are questions that stretch across numerous disciplines. Philosophy, theology, evolutionary biology, and mathematics are just some of the fields looking to explain the emergence of human life.

What forces molded the universe? Are those forces still at work, removing, changing, or adding heavenly bodies even as we gaze upward? Will humanity, and Earth itself, one day be gone? Are we alone? In an era when science journalism is perhaps more thorough and ambitious than ever before, fascinating explorations of questions like these seem available to us almost every day - provided we have a working understanding of the scientific theories on which they're based.

The stars and constellations are among the few remaining objects that appear to us just as they appeared to our distant ancestors. From anywhere on Earth, a person may view the celestial panorama simply by stepping outside at night and gazing upward. This nonfiction narrative presents the tales of the 48 classical constellations, compiled from literature spanning a thousand years from Homer to Claudius Ptolemy. These age-old tales have captured the human imagination from ancient times to the present.

The Sun, Moon, and stars are crucial to your daily existence. The perfect regularity of the heavens is the only guaranteed part of life and inspires deep religious and philosophical ideas, while unexpected events such as eclipses and comets incite fear. Experience this ancient outlook with noted astrophysicist and historian of astronomy Professor Bradley Schaefer of Louisiana State University. An award-winning teacher, Dr. Schaefer takes you around the world, exploring the close relationship that people thousands of years ago had with the sky.

In this uniquely American memoir, Homer "Sonny" Hickam beautifully captures a moment when a dying town, a divided family, and a band of teenage dreamers dared to set their sights on the stars. Looking back after a distinguished NASA career that fulfilled his boyhood ambition, Hickam shares the story of his youth, taking listeners into the life of the little mining town and the boys who came to embody both its tensions and its dreams.

Original audio drama with spectacular soundscapes, based on the Greco-Roman myths behind the constellations. Written and directed by Bibi Jacob, these moving and sometimes humorous tales, brim with tragedy, injustice, and violence.

Are you up for a trip through the ultimate neighborhood? Join astrophysicist Hugh Ross for an insider’s look at our cosmic neighborhood, where you’ll see everything from the largest-scale structure of the universe to Earth’s innermost layers. In Designed to the Core, Ross explains how the most sophisticated scientific instruments reveal exquisite “interior designs” throughout the universe that are ideally suited for human habitation here on Earth right now.

A Crack in Everything is the story of how black holes came in from the cold and took cosmic centre stage. As a journalist, Marcus Chown interviews many of the scientists who made the key discoveries, and, as a former physicist, he translates the most esoteric of science into everyday language. The result is a uniquely engaging audiobook that tells one of the great untold stories in modern science.

It is now known that we live in a galaxy with more planets than stars. The Milky Way alone encompasses 30 trillion potential home planets. Scientists Trefil and Summers bring listeners on a marvelous experimental voyage through the possibilities of life-unlike anything we have experienced so far - that could exist on planets outside our own solar system.

Astronomy expert Tom Kerss offers complete advice from the ground up, introducing the world of telescopes, planets, stars, dark skies and celestial maps, explaining the best ways to plan your stargazing experience and the key things to look out for on specific dates throughout the year.

Childrens radio station Fun Kids presents a new series about an intergalactic school in space! Join your schoolmates - aliens, robots and humans - as we explore the universe!

The award-winning Curiosity Daily podcast from CuriosityDaily.com will help you get smarter about the world around you. In less than 10 minutes, you’ll get a unique mix of research-based life hacks, the latest science and technology news, and more. Nate Bonham and Calli Gade will help you learn about your mind and body, outer space and the depths of the sea, and how history shaped the world into what it is today.Head to discovery+ to stream even more science content, from Animal Planet to Science Channel. Go to discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial today. Terms Apply. ...

In this brilliant exploration of our cosmic environment, the renowned particle physicist and New York Times best-selling author of Warped Passages and Knocking on Heaven's Door uses her research into dark matter to illuminate the startling connections between the farthest reaches of space and life here on Earth.

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.

This audiobook narrated by Juliet Stevenson shares the story of a world-renowned physicist who seeks gravity’s true nature and finds wisdom in embracing its force in her life.

The night sky is an endless source of wonder and mystery. For thousands of years it has been at the heart of scientific and philosophical inquiry, from the first star catalogues etched into ancient Mesopotamian clay tablets to the metres-wide telescopes constructed in Chile's Atacama Desert today. On a clear night it is hard not to look up and pick out familiar constellations, and to think of the visionary minds who pioneered our understanding of what lies beyond.

In the two decades since astronomers first discovered the existence of a planet outside of our solar system, “exoplanetology” has become the hottest specialty in astrophysics. Scientists young and old, inspired by the thought of finding either another habitable world or the Holy Grail of space exploration - life itself - flocked to be part of this burgeoning field. With so much brainpower on hand, it’s no wonder that investigative techniques advanced more quickly than anyone would have thought.

Long before space travel was possible, the idea of life beyond Earth transfixed humans. In this fascinating book, astronomer Jon Willis explores the science of astrobiology and the possibility of locating other life in our own galaxy. Describing the most recent discoveries by space exploration missions, including the Kepler space telescope, the Mars Curiosity rover, and the New Horizons probe, Willis asks listeners to imagine - and choose among-five scenarios for finding life.

Looking up at the night sky fills a person with wonder, knowing there is so much unknown out there! Admiring the universe can put things in perspective – if only we could capture that feeling. Tonight, you can! The first ever photo was taken in 1826 and at the end of the following decade, the moon was captured. But it wasn’t until the late 19th century that technology advanced to the point where details of stars could be seen, and only really the last 20 years that software has taken this to a new level.

For decades, books, movies, television shows, and conspiracy theories have speculated about the existence of life on other planets. But how possible is it that we are alone in the universe? How likely is it we’ll find a habitable, Earth-like planet? How come we have not already seen signs of extraterrestrial life? Join astrophysicist Sarah Rugheimer to reveal what we know about detecting life on other planets.