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