Description
Book SynopsisThis new fascinating collaboration between eminent Scots astronomer John C. Brown and renowned Scots poet Rab Wilson combines a beginner’s introduction to the scientific workings of the universe together with inspired poems and haikus, and superb imagery from astro-photographers and artists.
Table of ContentsForeword: Regius Professor Andy Lawrence FRSE (Edinburgh) 9 Foreword: Visiting Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell FRS, FRSE (Oxford) 10 Introduction: John C Brown and Rab Wilson 11 Acknowledgements 15 Prologue: The Makar 16 Chapter 1 Let’s Get Started 17 Big Numbers and Just How Big Is the Universe? 17
Doactir Wha? 25 Space, Gravity, Orbits & the Vacuum 26
Musky’s Motor Caur 31 In the Beginning 34 Chapter 2 Planets and Planetary Systems 38 What are Planetary Systems? 38
The Auld Professor 56
International Space Station 57 Apollo, Moonwalks and the First Space Selfie 59
Spacewalk 63
Mune Trees 65 Blue Moons, Super Moons, and Other Moon Madness 66
Super Blue Bluid Mune 71 The Solar System’s Gobsmacking Moons 72
Dumfounerin Munes 81 Saturn’s Wonderful Rings 82 Exoplanets 86
Goldilocks and the Three Exoplanets 97 Chapter 3 The Sun, the Stars and Nebulae 100 Solar Facts, Figures and Phenomena 101
Solaris 115 Polaris 116
Constant 119 The Pleiades and other Star Clusters 120
Subaru 124
Star Clusters 125 Birth, Life, and Death of Stars, and Associated Nebulae 126
Deuks an Dugs 140 Chapter 4 Galaxies and the Large-scale Structure of the Cosmos 142 The Milky Way and Andromeda 142 Galaxies and the Extragalactic Universe 149 Cosmic Expansion, Dark Matter, Dark Energy and the Multiverse 156 Chapter 5 Some Early Great Scots Astronomers 159 Today’s Scottish Astronomy Scene 159 James Gregory 161 Alexander Wilson 161
The Sairchin Mind 166 Thomas Brisbane 169 Mary Somerville 170
Mary Somerville 171
A Wee Message Frae Mary Somerville 174 Thomas Henderson 175 John Pringle Nichol 176 Charles Piazzi Smyth 177
Piazzi 181 James Clerk Maxwell 183
Daftie 188 Williamina Fleming 190 Chapter 6 Human Views and Models of the Cosmos Through the Ages 192 From Cave Art to the Late Neolithic 192
Afore the Dawn 196 The Geometrically Perfect Cosmos of Ancient Greece and its Legacy 201
The Grand Orrery 203 Mechanical Models of Time, Space, and Motion 204 Modern Planetaria and Virtual Reality Systems 206 Modern Artistic Representations of the Cosmos 208 Chapter 7 Some Personal Adventures in Oor Big Braw Cosmos 210 Solarigraphy 210 Two New Constellations for Scotland 213
Yondermaist 216 The Astronomer Royal for Scotland – Tales of a Coat of Arms 218
Arms and the Man 223 The Scottish Dark Sky Observatory and a Burns Club Visit 225
Ayont the Sun 230
Ten Draps o Watter 231 The Kirkhill Pillar, Calderwood and Gazing Toward Black Holes 233 Chapter 8 In the End 235 The End of Life on Earth and of our Planets 235 The Fates of Galaxies, Stars and Exoplanetary Systems 236 The Final Physical Fate of the Cosmos 236
Multiverse 241
Epilogue: Aeternum 242 Appendix: The Wider Worlds of Cosmic Imagery and Poetry 243
The Star o Hope 250 Map: Some Scottish Sites of Astronomical Interest 252 Timeline: Some Highlights in Cosmic and Astronomical History 254
