mathematics
Maxwell, James Clerk
Mercury
Michell, John
Michelson, Albert
microwaves
Milky Way galaxy
Mirabel, Felix
molecules
momentum
Moon
moons
Morley, Edward
Morrison, Philip
Mount Palomar Observatory Mount Wilson Observatory muons
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Nature nebulae, see interstellar clouds nebular hypothesis
Neptune
neutrinos
neutrons
neutron stars
Newton, Isaac
Newton Observatory
New York Times, The NGC 4261 galaxy
NGC 6744 galaxy
nitrogen
Norway
nuclear fusion
nuclear weapons
nuclei, atomic
Nulsen, Paul
Olbers, Heinrich
Olbers’s Paradox
Olduavi Gorge
“On the Means of Discovering the Distance, Magnitude, &c. of the Fixed Stars…” (Michell) Oppenheimer, J. Robert
orbits, planetary
Orion
oxygen
particle accelerators
Penrose, Roger
“periscopes”
Perlman, Eric
Perseus
Perseus galaxy cluster
photons
physics; see also quantum mechanics; relativity theory pi (π) Planck, Max
planets
plasma
Pleiades
pressure waves
protogalaxies
protons
protoplanets
protostars
pulsars
quantum mechanics
quasars
radio telescopes
radio waves
Randall-Sundrum model
red galaxies
red giants
redshift
red stars
relativity theory
Reuland, Michiel
Richardson, Lewis Fry
rockets
Roentgen, Wilhelm
Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT) Roosevelt, Franklin D.
Royal Society
RR Lyrae variables
Sagan, Carl
Sagittarius
Salpeter, Edwin
Santorini
satellites
Saturn
Schmidt, Maarten
Schwartz, Dan
Schwarzchild, Karl
Schwarzchild radius
Scorpius X-1
Shapley, Harlow
Shapley Supercluster
silicon
singularities
Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Smail, Ian
solar radiation
solar system
sound waves
space
spacetime
special theory of relativity spiral galaxies
“Stability of a Spherical Nebula, The” (Jeans) stars: baby; binary; blue; brightness of (luminosity); dwarf; formation of; location and patterns of; neutron; number of; proto-; red; yellow subatomic particles; see also specific particles Submillimeter Common User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) submillimeter radiation Sun
supernovae
synchrotron radiation
tau neutrino
telescopes
temperature
thermodynamics
Thorne, Kip
three-dimensional space time; see also spacetime Uchinoura Space Center Uhuru observatory
ultraviolet light
uncertainty principle
universe: construction vs. destruction in; as “cosmic web”; “dark ages” of; equilibrium in; expansion of; formation of; large-scale structure of; mapping of; “observable”; origins of; time scale for; total mass of; void in Uranus
van Breugel, Wil
velocity
visible light
Wegner, Gary
“whale’s dilemma”
Wheeler, John Archibald white dwarfs
Wide Angle ROSAT Pointed Survey (WARPS) William the Conqueror
wormholes
X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) X-rays
X-ray telescopes
yellow stars
Zel’dovich, Yakov
Znajek, Roman
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
Atlas image obtained as part of the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center / California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation
Courtesy of National Radio Astronomy Observatory / Associated Universities, Inc. / National Science Foundation, and investigators R. Perley, C. Carilli, and J. Dreher
Courtesy of National Radio Astronomy Observatory / Associated Universities, Inc. / National Science Foundation
Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC)
NASA/ESA/STScI and Walter Jaffe (Leiden), Holland Ford (STScI/JHU)
NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Acknowledgment: J. A. Biretta, W. B. Sparks, F. D. Macchetto, E. S. Perlman (STScI)
NASA/Chandra X-ray Science Center (CXC)/Institute of Astronomy (IoA)/Andrew Fabian et al.
With thanks to Wil van Breugel and Michiel Reuland. Image obtained with the Keck II ten-meter telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
European Southern Observatory [ESO], image taken with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at La Silla.
A Note About the Author Caleb Scharf is the director of the Columbia Astrobiology Center. He writes the Life, Unbounded blog for Scientific American; has written for New Scientist, Science, and Nature, among other publications; and has served as a consultant for the Discovery Channel, the Science Channel, The New York Times, and more. Scharf has given keynote speeches at the American Museum of Natural History and the Rubin Museum of Art, and is the author of Extrasolar Planets and Astrobiology, winner of the 2011 Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award from the American Astronomical Society. He lives in New York City with his wife and two daughters.
Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux
18 West 18th Street, New York 10011
Copyright © 2012 by Caleb Scharf All rights reserved
First edition, 2012
A portion of chapter 8 originally appeared, in slightly different form, in Scientific American.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Scharf, Caleb A., 1968– Gravity’s engines : how bubble-blowing black holes rule galaxies, stars, and life in the cosmos / Caleb Scharf.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-374-11412-1 (hardback) 1. Black holes (Astronomy) 2. Gravity. 3. Cosmology. I. Title.
QB843.B55 S33 2012
523.8'875—dc23
2011047089
eISBN 9780374709754
www.fsgbooks.com
books.scientificamerican.com
Gravity's Engines: How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rule Galaxies, Stars, and Life in the Cosmos Page 25