Galaxies

An eminently readable overview of the history and physics of galaxies.

In Galaxies, Or Grauroffers a brief and fascinating overview of the history, physics, and astrophysical uses of galaxies. Starting with the history of the last two thousand years of galaxy studies, Graur discusses the types of galaxies we observe and the physics that drive them; the myths and physical structure of the Milky Way; how galaxies were used to discover and study the mysterious phenomena of dark matter and dark energy; and how scientists think galaxies formed shortly after the Big Bang and evolved to their present forms.
Tracing galaxy studies back thousands of years ago to their beginnings, Graur describes their origin in Ptolemy’s book Almagest, whichwaswritten in the first century CE. Almagest catalogued hundreds of stars and a few hazy cloud-like objects, one of which was the Andromeda galaxy. The reader will also encounter in...