The Manga Guide to the Universe

Table of contents

1. Praise for the Manga Guide series
2. Copyright
3. Foreword
4. Preface
5. Prologue: A Tale That Begins on the Moon
   1. The Story of Kaguya-hime
   2. Cosmic Myths
      1. Ancient India’s View of the Universe
      2. Ancient Egypt’s View of the Universe
      3. Ancient Babylonia’s View of the Universe
   3. In China, Where Astronomy Was Originally Developed
   4. In Ancient Greece, Where the Size of Earth Was Calculated
      1. Eratosthenes’s Calculation Method
   5. If Earth Is Round, the Moon Must be Round Too
6. Chapter 1: Is Earth the Center of the Universe?
   1. A Mysterious Light Appeared in the Sky
   2. Close Encounters
   3. Does the Sun Revolve Around Earth?
   4. A Heliocentric Model Was Proposed 2,300 Years Ago
   5. From the Geocentric Theory to the Heliocentric Theory
   6. Galileo’s Discoveries—And Trial
   7. Putting things in perspective
   8. What Is the Approximate Distance to the Horizon?
   9. Measuring the Size of the Universe: How Far to the Moon?
      1. Corner Cube Mirrors
      2. How a Corner Cube Mirror Works
      3. Before the Corner Cube Prism
   10. Geocentric Theory vs. Heliocentric Theory—the Outcome of a Battle Royale
       1. What Kind of Orbit Did a Planet Trace in the Geocentric Theory?
       2. The Tychonic System that Embellished the Geocentric Theory
       3. Just How Progressive Was Copernicus?
       4. Kepler Completed the Heliocentric Theory
       5. What Did Galileo Do?
       6. What Has the Heliocentric Theory Taught Us?
   11. A Somewhat Complicated Explanation of Kepler’s Laws
       1. First Law: The Orbit of Every Planet Is an Ellipse with the Sun at the Focus
       2. Second Law: A Line Joining a Planet and the Sun Sweeps Out Equal Areas During Equal Intervals of Time
       3. Third Law: The Square of the Orbital Period of a Planet Is Directly Proportional to the Cube of the Semimajor Axis of Its Orbit
7. Chapter 2: From the Solar System to the Milky Way
   1. What If Kaguya-hime Came from a Planet in our Solar System?
   2. Kaguya-hime and the Solar System
      1. Mercury
      2. Venus
      3. Mars
      4. Jupiter
      5. Saturn
      6. Uranus
      7. Neptune
      8. Pluto
      9. Earth
      10. The Moon
      11. The Sun
   3. The Size of the Milky Way Galaxy
   4. What’s in the Middle of the Galaxy?
   5. Top Five Mysteries of the Galaxy That Have Not Yet Been Explained!
      1. What Is the Galaxy’s Shape, and How Did It Form?
      2. What’s at the Center?
      3. How Are Supermassive Black Holes Formed?
      4. What Is the Galaxy Made Of?
      5. What Will Happen When We Collide with the Andromeda Galaxy?
   6. The Milky Way Galaxy Is One of Many Galaxies
   7. The Universe Is Steadily Getting Larger
      1. Why Can We See the Milky Way?
      2. A Disc-Shaped Galactic Model Is the Easiest to Understand
      3. Results of Scientific Observation Also Prove a Disc-Shaped Universe
      4. An Idea from Kant Enlarged the Perceived Universe in a Flash
      5. How Did Technology for Observing the Universe Progress?
      6. Famous Telescopes
      7. What Can a Radio Telescope Observe?
   8. Another Way to Measure the Size of the Universe: A Triangulation Trick
      1. Triangulation Can Give Us the Distance to Stars Beyond the Solar System
   9. How Big Is the Solar System?
8. Chapter 3: The Universe Was Born With a Big Bang
   1. Galaxies Are Islands of Light in the Void of Space
   2. The Winning Team Learns a Lesson
   3. What Is the Large-Scale Structure of the Cosmos?
      1. Planetary System
      2. Galaxy
      3. Group of Galaxies or Cluster of Galaxies
      4. Supercluster of Galaxies
   4. Hubble’s Great Discovery
      1. The Origins of the Universe: “Hubble’s Great Discovery—Act I”
      2. Back to the Play: “Hubble’s Great Discovery—Act II”
   5. If the Universe Is Expanding...
   6. Everything Started with the Big Bang
   7. Hubble’s Theory of the Expansion of the Universe Was Imperfect
   8. Three Pieces of Evidence for the Big Bang Theory
   9. Do Aliens Exist?
      1. Calculating the Number of Extraterrestrial ­Civilizations
      2. Extraterrestrial Life and a World-Renowned Physicist
      3. Has Life Been Created Often?
      4. Which Is the Closest Star System That Could Support Extraterrestrial Life?
      5. Can We Contact an Extraterrestrial Civilization?
      6. Tardigrades (Water Bears) Are the Toughest ­Astronauts
   10. A Third Method of Measuring the Size of the Universe: If You Know the Properties of a Star, Can You Figure Out How Far away It Is?
       1. Stars with Varying Brightness Are “Lighthouses of the Universe”
       2. Methods of Measuring Even Greater Distances
9. Chapter 4: What Is It Like at the Edge of the Universe?
   1. Where Is the Universe Going?
   2. The Closest Earthlike Planet
   3. Arrival at the “Edge” of the Universe
   4. Professor Sanuki's Soliloquy
10. Chapter 5: Our Ever-Expanding Universe
    1. The Big Show
    2. The Multiverse Contains Numerous Universes
    3. The Edge, Birth, and End of the Universe...
       1. Why Might Space Be Curved?
       2. Will You Return to the Same Location in a Plane, a Cylinder, and a Sphere?
       3. Negative Curvature
       4. Friedmann’s Dynamic Universe
    4. What Will Ultimately Become of the Universe?
    5. WMAP and Our Flat Universe
    6. The True Age of the Universe
11. Index
12. About the Author
13. About theSupervising Editor
14. Production Team for the Japanese Edition
15. More Manga Guides
16. Updates
17. Gallery of Astronomical Marvels