Hubble Space Telescope image of galaxy NGC 1569 (ESA/Hubble/NASA)
When world-class astrophysicists J. Richard Gott, Michael A. Strauss, and Neil deGrasse Tyson team-taught an introductory astronomy course at Princeton a few years ago, it was SRO. The class, which covered everything from planets, stars, and galaxies to black holes, wormholes, and time travel, was the inspiration for their new book, Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour (Princeton University Press).
This evening, two of the authors, Gott and Strauss, engage in a conversation that takes you from our home solar system to the outermost frontiers of space. Describing the latest discoveries in astrophysics, they address questions that stretch our imagination. How do stars live and die? Why did Pluto lose its planetary status? What are the prospects for intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? How did the universe begin? Why is it expanding and why is its expansion accelerating? Is our universe alone or part of an infinite multiverse?
Consider it an insider’s look at how the universe works.
Gott is a professor of astrophysics at Princeton University known for cosmological theories about time travel and the Doomsday argument. Strauss has used large surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, to study extragalactic astronomy and observational cosmology.
Welcome to the Universe is available for signing after the program.
