Your Place in the Universe
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Sitter, Willem de, 87, 93
solar system, 171, 191, 198, 204–205, 211–12, 227, 235–36, 239
sound waves, 164
space-time, 30, 84–86, 88
curved, 186
distortion of, 30, 86
spectral lines, 106, 109. See also atoms
spectroscopy, 52, 56, 57
spin, 110–12, 139
stars
61 Cygni, 56–57
atmosphere of, 194–95
black dwarf, 212
brightness of, 192
brown dwarf, 148, 211, 212, 213
Cepheid, 75–77, 176
death of, 140, 195–96
end of, 210–11
evolution of, 193–94
formation of, 134–36, 197–98, 201–203
future of, 208–209, 256n3 (ch. 13)
luminosity of, 76
mass of, 196
in the Milky Way, 95, 160
nature of, 190–91
neutron, 213
new, 178
novae, 196
Population I, 134
Population II, 134
Population III (Pop-3), 134
red giant, 194, 196
variable, 75–76
white dwarf, 195, 197, 210, 212, 216–17
steady-state model, 97, 99–100, 101
Stern, Otto, 110–11
string theories, 223, 242
strong nuclear force, 35, 64, 69, 117
subatomic particles, 110–11, 115, 139, 155, 185, 192, 215, 217. See also particles
sun
atmosphere of, 205
as center of universe, 17, 19, 27, 56, 84
density of, 192–93
life cycle of, 203–204
orbit of, 18, 167
as white dwarf, 212
superclusters, 168–69, 254n1
Laniakea, 169, 225
local, 232
Virgo, 169, 225
See also clusters
supernovae
discovery of, 177–78
energy released by, 106, 196
explosions of, 140, 196
measurement of, 255n5
type Ia, 178–80, 181, 197
type II (core-collapse), 196
symmetry, 35, 60, 61, 63, 112, 213, 215, 224
charge (C), 64–65, 67
parity (P), 64, 67
spherical, 162
of the universe, 35
violations of, 64–65
telescopes, 49, 56, 57, 189
Galileo's invention of, 26
used by Hubble, 78–79
See also Hubble Space Telescope
TeVeS (Tensor-Vector-Scalar), 153
theory of everything (TOE), 36, 118
thermal radiation, 98–99
thermodynamics, 105, 222, 237
time, as fourth dimension, 84–85. See also space-time
tired light, 94–95, 251n2
Tombaugh, Clyde, 48
Tomonaga, Sin-Itiro, 118
tritium, 71
ultraviolet radiation, 140
universe
age of, 102–103, 123, 124
center of, 120
components of, 69, 72
cooling of, 68, 71, 92, 94, 100
edge of, 120–21
end of, 218–20, 245
evolution of, 200, 227, 245
expansion of, 83–86, 88, 92, 94, 95, 99, 119, 122, 123, 125, 127–28, 175, 186, 219
future of, 206, 206–13
heat death of, 218–19
hierarchical nature of, 165–66
history of, 66–67, 68
as homogenous, 96–97
as isotropic, 96–97
mass of, 151
observable, 233
origins of, 31, 34
regeneration of, 222–23
scale of, 77–78
shape of, 121–23, 174–75, 182
size of, 73–74, 103, 122, 189, 226
standard model, 117, 118
See also island universes
Uranus, 15, 48, 149
vacuum decay, 221
vacuum energy, 117, 130–31, 185–86, 221
variable stars, 75–76
velocity, 44, 81, 82, 88, 176, 180
peculiar, 82
Venus, 234
Virgo Cluster, 169
Virgo Supercluster, 169, 225
virial theorem, 144
Voyager 1, 159–60
Vulcan, 149
Walker, Arthur, 87
water vapor, 68
weak nuclear force, 35, 63–66, 113, 117, 155–56
white dwarf stars, 195, 197, 210, 212, 216–17
Wilson, Robert, 100, 101, 132
WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), 154–56
WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe), 133
X-ray radiation, 140, 150, 195
yottawatts, 193
Zone of Avoidance, 168, 169
Zwicky, Fritz, 83, 95, 143–44, 146, 178