30-Second Astronomy

How hot is Venus? Can you distinguish between a pulsar and a quasar? Is there a universe or a multiverse? Where do we fit into the infinitely grand scheme of things? How do we map the Cosmic Microwave Background? Most tantalizing of all: Is there anyone out there?The answers to these and many other far-out questions lie in your hands. Everyone's gazing at the heavens, but a voyage through the star-studded contents of this book will blow your mind. Astronomy encapsulates the terrifying hugeness of the cosmos into bite-size particles that mere earthlings can understand: 50 incredible discoveries brought down to Earth using no more than two pages, 300 words, and a picture. This one small volume takes you on a cosmic tour, shedding light on the most awesome of objects and places, explaining some very big ideas, concepts, and discoveries, and presenting the scientists and observers who have done so much to crack Life, the Universe, and Everything. Welcome aboard.

If you struggled with Stephen Hawking's book about Big Bang and gave up halfway through Brian Cox's programmes about the solar system, then this book could be for you. It really does deliver elementary particle-sized nuggets designed to be read in 30 seconds on 50 subjects, from The Big Bang to the search for life on another planet.

Editor Dr. François Fressin, of the Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of a team of astronomers working as part of NASA's Kepler mission. Dr. Fressin discovered the first Earth-sized planets orbiting a star other than the Sun.