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Stars, Galaxies, & The Universe

v2.0.0 / TOC / 01 apr 03 / greg goebel / public domain

* The starry sky was once seen as little more than a sphere dotted with lights that surrounded the Earth. It wasn't until a few centuries ago that people understood that the lights were distant suns in a much wider Universe. Since that time that Universe has continued to grow even wider, encompassing vast numbers of galaxies in a cosmos of unimaginable extent.

This document provides a short history and description of the cosmos beyond our Solar System, discussing the stars and their lives, our Milky Way galaxy, galaxies beyond the Milky Way, and the broad order of the Universe, at least as we understand such things at present.

[1.0] The Discovery Of The Stars

• [1.1] THE VAULT OF THE HEAVENS
  
• [1.2] THE HUNT FOR DISTANT SUNS / BINARIES & VARIABLE STARS
  
• [1.3] NEBULAS / THE MESSIER OBJECTS
  
• [1.4] DISTANT SUNS CONFIRMED / WHITE DWARFS / NOVAS REDISCOVERED
  
• [1.5] SPECTROSCOPY & PHOTOMETRY / THE HR DIAGRAM
  
• [1.6] THE CEPHEID YARDSTICK / MOVING CLUSTER PARALLAX
  
• [1.7] THE AGE OF THE SUN / FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN ASTROPHYSICS
  

[2.0] Touring The Sun & The Stars

• [2.1] BASIC PROPERTIES OF THE STARS
  
• [2.2] STELLAR CLASSIFICATIONS
  
• [2.3] DAYTIME STAR: THE SUN
  
• [2.4] THE STARS IN THE SKY
  

[3.0] Stellar Mechanics & Evolution (1)

• [3.1] THE BIRTH OF STARS
  
• [3.2] THE EVOLUTION OF STARS / PLANETARY NEBULAS / END OF THE SUN
  
• [3.3] PULSATING VARIABLE STARS
  

[4.0] Stellar Mechanics & Evolution (2)

• [4.1] TYPE II SUPERNOVAS / SUPERNOVA 1987A
  
• [4.2] NOVAS, DWARF NOVAS, & TYPE I SUPERNOVAS
  
• [4.3] BROWN DWARFS
  

[5.0] Fossil Stars: White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars, & Black Holes

• [5.1] THE DISCOVERY OF WHITE DWARFS
  
• [5.2] WHITE DWARFS AND ELECTRON DEGENERACY
  
• [5.3] THE STRUCTURE AND EVOLUTION OF WHITE DWARFS
  
• [5.4] WHITE DWARFS AND THE AGE OF THE UNIVERSE
  
• [5.5] BEYOND WHITE DWARFS?
  
• [5.6] NEUTRON STARS DISCOVERED
  
• [5.7] CHARACTERISTICS OF NEUTRON STARS
  
• [5.8] MILLISECOND PULSARS AND OTHER UNUSUAL NEUTRON STARS
  
• [5.9] BLACK HOLES DISCOVERED?
  
• [5.10] MINIHOLES
  

[6.0] The Milky Way Galaxy

• [6.1] THE DISCOVERY OF THE MILKY WAY GALAXY
  
• [6.2] THE DISCOVERY OF THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY
  
• [6.3] MAPPING THE MILKY WAY / GALACTIC CORE
  
• [6.4] GLOBULAR CLUSTERS / STELLAR COLLISIONS
  
• [6.5] MISSING MASS & GALACTIC DARK MATTER
  

[7.0] Beyond The Milky Way

• [7.1] THE REALM OF THE GALAXIES
  
• [7.2] THE LOCAL GROUP
  
• [7.3] CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES / COLLIDING GALAXIES
  
• [7.4] QUASARS
  

[8.0] An Introduction To Cosmology

• [8.1] THE ORIGINS OF COSMOLOGY / THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE
  
• [8.2] BIG BANG VERSUS STEADY-STATE
  
• [8.3] THE DISCOVERY OF THE COSMIC BACKGROUND RADIATION
  
• [8.4] THE BIG BANG
  
• [8.5] INFLATION THEORY
  
• [8.6] COSMIC DARK MATTER / DARK ENERGY / MULTIVERSE THEORIES
  
• [8.7] FRONTIERS IN COSMOLOGY
  

[9.0] Mysteries Of The Universe

• [9.1] COSMIC RAYS
  
• [9.2] GAMMA-RAY BURSTERS
  
• [9.3] SOFT GAMMA-RAY REPEATERS
  
• [9.4] COMMENTS, SOURCES, & REVISION HISTORY