Gravity's engines : how bubble-blowing black holes rule galaxies, stars, and life in the cosmos /
Author / Creator: | Scharf, Caleb A., 1968- |
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Edition: | 1st ed. |
Imprint: | New York : Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012. |
Description: | ix, 252 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. |
Language: | English |
Subject: | |
Format: | Print Book |
URL for this record: | http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/8906979 |
Summary: | One of The Barnes and Noble Review Editors' Picks: Best Nonfiction of 2012 Recent research, however, has led to a cascade of new discoveries that have revealed an entirely different side to black holes. As the astrophysicist Caleb Scharf reveals in Gravity's Engines , these chasms in space-time don't just vacuum up everything that comes near them; they also spit out huge beams and clouds of matter. Black holes blow bubbles. With clarity and keen intellect, Scharf masterfully explains how these bubbles profoundly rearrange the cosmos around them. Engaging with our deepest questions about the universe, he takes us on an intimate journey through the endlessly colorful place we call our galaxy and reminds us that the Milky Way sits in a special place in the cosmic zoo--a "sweet spot" of properties. Is it coincidental that we find ourselves here at this place and time? Could there be a deeper connection between thenature of black holes and their role in the universe and the phenomenon of life? We are, after all, made of the stuff of stars. |
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Item Description: | Includes index. |
Physical Description: | ix, 252 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. |
Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (p. [221]-239) and index. |
ISBN: | 9780374114121 0374114129 |