Have you ever wondered how stars are born? Or what happens inside a black hole? Or how to safely view a solar eclipse? This book tells you the answers-and much more. See what astronomers and space scientists have discovered about the amazing wonders of the stars.

As of today, we are still sending messages to the stars: messages that, so far, have not been answered. For more than 50 years, we've been unsuccessfully searching for any evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial life. But, the discovery of thousands of exoplanets has meant the hope of finding them is higher than ever. First contact with alien intelligence will become a reality in the future, so we must understand how to communicate. What kind of...

In 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface and into the history books as the first of only twelve men to walk on the Moon. But in 1961 when Kennedy pledged to put a man on the Moon, NASA had barely put a man into orbit. They had less than 10 years to train a team of astronauts to overcome the unknown challenges of a mission to the Moon.

The daytime sky contains intriguing natural sights that offer a colorful introduction to astronomy. One such phenomenon is the rainbow. This lecture examines how a rainbow is created and how it appears under different circumstances.

Many objects in the night sky can be enjoyed with the naked eye, even from the city. These include several famous constellations, bright stars, planets, and satellites such as the International Space Station.

Far from city lights, the night sky becomes spectacular and includes such sights as the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, zodiacal light, and comets. Though not technically "celestial," auroras are also wondrous spectacles.

Lunar phases occur as the Moon orbits Earth, changing the viewing perspective of the Moon's illuminated hemisphere. Lunar eclipses take place when Earth, the Sun, and Moon are almost exactly aligned.

Total solar eclipses are stunning celestial sights, which occur when the Moon comes between Earth and the Sun, totally blocking the Sun for a small portion of the Earth. These rare events reveal beautiful and thrilling phenomena.

Astronomy has its roots in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Babylon, India, Egypt, and China. The Greeks in particular developed sophisticated and sometimes surprisingly accurate theories of the nature of the heavens.

Astronomers obtain most of their information through the analysis of light. This lecture introduces the electromagnetic spectrum and the technique of spectroscopy, in which light is dispersed into its component colors, as in a rainbow.