BOOK - Astronomy

Preface by Françoise Combes Images of the cosmos fascinate. But how were they obtained and what did they reveal? From the latest images from the titanic James Webb Space Telescope, to the discovery of black holes several billion times more massive than our Sun, astronomy is the science of superlatives. By deciphering breathtaking images, this book recounts the greatest challenges – technical, technological and human – that we have to overcome. The authors describe the most beautiful exploits (and failures) of science, in the company of astronomers - Jacques Laskar, Brigitte Zanda, Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille, François Forget - of whom they draw moving portraits. Prefaced by astrophysicist Françoise Combes, Astronomie answers in a fun, complete and illustrated way to questions that (almost) everyone has already asked themselves when raising their heads to the sky: What happened during the Big Bang? How far and how long can we observe? How does a star become a white dwarf, a neutron star, a black hole? What does an exoplanet look like? How does a telescope work? So many gateways to understanding the astronomical discoveries of yesterday, today and tomorrow.*