How to Die in Space: A Journey through Dangerous Astrophysical Phenomena

by Paul M. Sutter

Overview

A brilliant and breathtakingly vivid tour of the universe, describing the physics of the dangerous, the deadly, and the scary in the cosmos.

So you’ve fallen in love with space and now you want to see it for yourself, huh? You want to witness the birth of a star, or visit the black hole at the center of our galaxy? You want to know if there are aliens out there, or how to travel through a wormhole? You want the wonders of the universe revealed before your very eyes? Well stop, because all that will probably kill you. From mundane comets in our solar backyard to exotic remnants of the Big Bang, from dying stars to young galaxies, the universe may be beautiful, but it’s treacherous. Through metaphors and straightforward language, it breathes life into astrophysics, unveiling how particles and forces and fields interplay to create the drama in the heavens above us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643134390
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	06/02/2020
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	698,386
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Paul Sutter, is the is the author of Your Place in the Universe: Understanding Our Big, Messy Existence. He spent three years at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics as the Postdoctoral Fellow in Next-Generation Cosmic Probes and currently is a Visiting Scholar at Ohio State University’s Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics in Columbus, Ohio, where he hosts the popular podcast “Ask a Spaceman!”
Paul Sutter, is the is the author of Your Place in the Universe: Understanding Our Big, Messy Existence. He spent three years at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics as the Postdoctoral Fellow in Next-Generation Cosmic Probes and currently is a Visiting Scholar at Ohio State University's Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics in Columbus, Ohio, where he hosts the popular podcast "Ask a Spaceman!"

Table of Contents

Prologue: A Disclaimer ix

Part 1 Interplanetary Threats 1

The Vacuum 3

Asteroids and Comets 25

Solar Flares and Coronal Mass Ejections 47

Cosmic Rays 66

Part 2 Interstellar Threats 89

Stellar Nurseries 91

Stellar-Mass Black Holes 112

Planetary Nebulae 131

White Dwarves and Novae 150

Part 3 Intergalactic Threats 167

Supernovae 169

Neutron Stars and Magnetars 189

Supermassive Black Holes 200

Quasars and Blazars 220

Part 4 Speculative Threats 239

Cosmic Strings and Miscellaneous Spacetime Defect 241

Dark Matter 260

Hostile Miens 280

Wormholes 304

Epilogue: A Final Warning 325

Endnotes 329

Index 345

Editorial Reviews

The tongue-in-cheek alarmist tone offsets Sutter’s deep fascination, and his joy of discovery is infectious. This accessible overview of our bizarre universe will encourage readers to delve deeper and learn more.

Booklist

"Brings the cosmos down to earth and shows that you don’t have to be an astrophysicist to enjoy the wonder of it all."

Tariq Malik

"Imagine sitting around a campfire with an astrophysicist who doesn’t just recount the history of cosmology, but also answers your questions. This is a wonderful read for those who are curious about big ideas."

Seth Shostak