Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Series)

by Neil deGrasse Tyson

The system is called the Sagittarius Dwarf, but should probably have been named Lunch.

Quasars are super-luminous galaxy cores whose light has typically been traveling for billions of years across space before reaching our telescopes.

Behold my recurring nightmare: Are we, too, missing some basic pieces of the universe that once were?

Or how about hydrogen and oxygen? One is an explosive gas, and the other promotes violent combustion, yet the two combined make liquid water, which puts out fires.

The largest on Mars, Olympus Mons, is 65,000 feet tall and nearly 300 miles wide at its base.

Want to peek at stellar nurseries deep inside galactic gas clouds? Pay attention to what infrared telescopes do. How about emissions from the vicinity of ordinary black holes and supermassive black holes in the center of a galaxy? Ultraviolet and X-ray telescopes do that best. Want to watch the high-energy explosion of a giant star, whose mass is as great as forty suns? Catch the drama via gamma ray telescopes.

it’s conceivable that life began on Mars and later seeded life on Earth, a process known as panspermia.