"The Big Questions: The Universe" Stuart Clark

The Big Questions series enables renowned experts to tackle the20 most fundamental and frequently asked questions of a majorbranch of science or philosophy. Each 3000-word essay simply andconcisely examines a question that has eternally perplexedenquiring minds, providing answers from history’s great thinkers. This ambitious project is a unique distillation of humanity’s bestideas. In Big Questions: The Universe, Dr Stuart Clark tackles the 20 keyquestions of astronomy and cosmology: What is the universe? How bigis the universe? How old is the universe? What are stars made from?How did the Universe form? Why do the planets stay in orbit? WasEinstein right? What are black holes? How did the Earth form? Whatwere the first celestial objects? What is dark matter? What is darkenergy? Are we really made from stardust? Is there life on Mars?Are there other intelligent beings? Can we travel thro