The Universe and Beyond

In the almost 15 years since the release of the fifth edition of The Universe and Beyond, our understanding of the universe has advanced exponentially. Previous editions guided readers through the intriguing world of black holes, dark matter and dark energy, toured the planets of other stars and plumbed the mysteries of quasars, pulsars, supernovas and the accelerating universe. In this new edition, Terence Dickinson and his longtime editorial partner Susan Dickinson joined forces to return to these earlier tours armed with exciting new information on the origin and evolution of the universe, the birth of planets, life on our solar system’s outer moons, runaway black holes, the first gravitational waves, an enigmatic interstellar visitor and more. These recent discoveries have spawned a host of questions about the universe that couldn’t even be imagined a decade ago. Illustrating this voyage are breathtaking photos captured by the groundbreaking Hubble Space Telescope during the later phase of its mission and by the newly launched James Webb Space Telescope, which has already allowed us to observe first stars and the formation of first galaxies and has provided information about potentially habitable exoplanets. The fully updated content showcases late-breaking science that has emerged since the last edition.