Black Holes

A fabulous journey through space and time to discover the fascinating truth about the legendary black hole.

Jean-Pierre Luminet (Edited by)

9780521409063, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 August 1992

336 pages, 71 b/w illus. 3 tables
21.6 x 13.8 x 1.7 cm, 0.475 kg

'… a highly instructive book … excellent graphics …' Webb Society Reviews

Black holes are undoubtedly one of the most fascinating discoveries of modern astronomy, and their description one of the most daring intellectual feats of modern times. They have already become legendary, forming the basis of many myths, fantasies and science fiction movies. Are they really the monsters which devour light and stars; bottomless celestial pits into which all matter is sucked and crushed? Are they an observable reality, or are they just hypothetical objects from the theory of relativity? In answering such questions the author takes us on a fabulous journey through space and time. Dr Jean-Pierre Luminet is an astronomer at Meudon Observatory in France, a specialist on the subject of black holes, and has also acquired a reputation for being a gifted writer and communicator. In this book he makes the subject of black holes accessible to any interested reader, who will need no mathematical background.

Foreword to the French edition
Foreword to the English edition
Acknowledgements
Part I. Gravitation and Light: 1. First fruits
2. Relativity
3. Curved space-time
Part II. Exquisite Corpses: 4. Chronicle of the twilight years
5. Ashes and diamonds
6. Supernovae
7. Pulsars
8. Gravitation triumphant
Part III. Light Assassinated: 9. The far horizon
10. Illuminations
11. A descent into the maelstrom
12. Map games
13. The black hole machine
14. The quantum black hole
Part IV. Light Regained: 15. Primordial black holes
16. The zoo of X-ray stars
17. Giant black holes
18. Gravitational light
19. The black hole Universe
Appendices
Bibliography
Name index
Subject index.

Subject Areas: Astrophysics [PHVB]