The Little Book of Stars [Hardcover]

The Little Book of Stars answers, in the clearest language, the questions anyone might have about our heavenly canopy. How are stars born? How do they die? Why do they shine? How long do they shine? Is our star, the Sun, dying? How can you tell time from the stars? Or navigate? What are the measures of stars? Can we ever travel to other stars? In this engagingly written and concise book, the second in the Little Book series, noted astronomer James B. Kaler shows us the significance that the stars have had in human life, how we have used them to tell our stories, and how we use them to find who and where we are. The Little Book of Stars tells the story of stellar science and what the stars mean to us from a variety of perspectives. Beginning with the big picture;' the book moves through progressively more and more intimate views until we feel we can hold the stars in our hands, from which we can then throw them back to the sky to see our place among them. The book opens with a summary of the event that created our Universe, the Big Bang, and then goes on to describe the natures of the Big Bang's progeny, the stars-what they are, how they shine, and how they can live such immensely long lives. Approaching horne, it next examines the measures of the stars: where they are, how they are collected together from pairs to galaxies of billions, and how we learn of their individual properties. Yet closer, we look in depth at the Sun and at the physical differences among the stars, at the immense range of properties they possess. Finally, arriving at Earth, we see the signif? icance of the stars to human life, how we have used them to tell our stories and to find where we are in both space and time. v From this base, the book looks more closely at stellar details, concentrating on temporal phenomena-on stellar change-and on the observational base that helps set the stage for the theory that links them all together.1 stars.- chapter2 collections.- chapter3 the family.- chaptelC%